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BART unions are continuing their strike today with no bargaining meetings scheduled between union leaders and BART management.
Rodd Lee, BART’s Government and Community Relations Manager, told regional and city leaders in a memo early Saturday that “BART has received no indication that ATU and SEIU (unions) will return to work Saturday. Travelers should make alternative plans.”
“A strike is a serious and regrettable action that affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of people,” Lee said. “BART wants to negotiate an end to this strike in a fair and financially responsible way.”
There were no statements issued by any of the BART unions today.
BART workers walked off their jobs shortly after midnight Friday, halting train service throughout the system.
Later, buses moved onto streets around the East Dublin/Pleasanton station, offering free rides to Oakland and San Francisco.
A team of federal mediators bowed out of the BART contract negotiations Thursday after union representatives announced that the talks had
failed and that workers would strike.
A former BART director who’s been involved in labor issues for many years said he was “very surprised” that the transit agency’s workers ended up calling a strike.
Michael Bernick, who served on BART’s board from 1988 to 1996, said BART management, the unions and “a variety of political figures from the state level on down” met repeatedly to avert a strike.
Bernick, who now works for a law firm in San Francisco and is a fellow in employment policy at the Milken Institute, said he thought a strike
was “in the rearview mirror” when union leaders said on Sunday night that they wouldn’t go on strike on Monday and would continue to bargain with management.
The current process in which BART management engages in collective bargaining with its unions “needs to be changed” because it is “highly
contentious and highly dysfunctional” and results in lengthy negotiations, Bernick said.
He said he thinks it should be changed to some form of arbitration instead.
But Service Employees International Union Local 1021 President Roxanne Sanchez said, “I’m sorry, I’m regretful.”
“The employer has been unwilling to reach an agreement or to settle these disputes without a strike,” Sanchez said at a news conference outside Caltrans offices on Grand Avenue in Oakland where negotiations had been taking place.
Federal mediator George Cohen said the two sides had reached agreements on “a number of very significant items that have previously separated them” but that sticking points remain and no one budged.
“The parties were unable to bridge the gap,” Cohen said. “Our efforts to do that at this point in time were not successful.”
The three-person federal mediation team decided there was “nothing further we were able to do,” he said.
The news conference came after a marathon 30-hour negotiating session.
“We came here at 10 o’clock (Thursday) morning. We have not left,” Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 president Antonette Bryant said.
Bryant said she was “deeply disappointed” at the outcome of the marathon session but blamed management.
“We were this close and yet at the last minute they threw in a management rights clause to take away our rights as workers,” she said. “Everything else was done. It should have been done.
“This is not an economic strike,” Bryant said. “It is an unfair labor practices strike.”
BART General Manager Grace Crunican said management has offered a 12% raise over four years, with workers paying a 4% pension contribution and a 9.5% increase in their health care contributions.
Crunican said the sticking points are related to management’s proposed work rules, which she said are essential to maintaining BART’s effectiveness.
“As we’ve gone back and forth, the district made it clear that we had certain rights that we had to maintain in this package,” she said.
Crunican said the rights laid out in the proposal give management the flexibility it needs to maintain an efficient system and cut out wasteful
practices.
She gave an example of pay stubs, saying management needs the ability to have pay stubs delivered electronically rather than be required to have a worker deliver paper stubs to employees.
Crunican said BART management’s offer will expire on Oct. 27 if the unions don’t accept it.
BART workers previously went on strike for four and a half days at the beginning of July after their previous contract expired.
A group of Bay Area business leaders is casting blame on union leaders for not accepting a deal put forth by BART management to avert a strike.
“This will be a catastrophe for the Bay Area that is completely unnecessary, unjustified and will cause untold hardship for the hundreds of
thousands of working people who rely on BART every day,” said John Grubb, chief of staff of the Bay Area Council, a local business-sponsored advocacy
group.
The council released its statement condemning the strike after union leaders announced they were walking off the job.
The Bay Area Council Economic Institute estimates that the strike is costing the Bay Area upwards of $73 million per day in lost worker productivity.
Bay City News reporters Melissa McRobbie, Jeff Shuttleworth and Dan McMenamin contributed to this story.
Bay City News reporters Melissa McRobbie, Jeff Shuttleworth and Dan McMenamin contributed to this story.
By Jeb Bing
Even the newspapers are supportive of BART management and against the unions on this one. Check out the editorial in the SJ Mercury News entitled “We’ve had enough.” The work rules which BART management wants to change lead to so much inefficiency in the system that they have led to the Friday strike. Prime example is getting a full day’s pay for 4.5 hours of work. The Merc rightly asks the question: “Why should we, the taxpayers and riders, fund this wastefulness at BART?”
The answer is, we should not. The BART unions have finally overplayed their hand and hardly any person or entity is supportive of them anymore – not the public, nor the newspapers, nor an increasing number of politicians.
Just remember, they are the highest paid transit worker in the nation, and they are not satisfied..
There are some sub-organizations in the government that live with their heads planted in very dark places.
In every economic form of business, organizations much arrange and re-arrange themselves based on the economic tides of the day. Government just raises taxes, increases pensions and benefits, and act like nothing has happened anywhere on the planet.
The Bart strike is one of the most rancid government organizations in existence. Quota systems for hiring, the most inept and corrupt leaders at the top, and a labor force that squeezes every non-working hour out of every day.
I would love to see Bart overtaken by a corporate business that knew how to run things. Oh, that’s right. Workers would have to work, and managers would have to manage.
TRAVEL OPTIONS IF THERE IS A STRIKE ON FRIDAY!
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/feature?id=9153597
tryin to be of assistance…
J-J is right on. BART should be run by a private corporation like Verizon. Or Chase. Or Exxon. Or Enron. You know, companies that really care about their customers. Because unions are bad. They’re really bad. We need to replace them with a corporate model, because, like J-J says, since time immemorial the corporate model has always been the best on earth. We should be run by corporations instead of corrupt governments, because corporations know what’s best for Americans.
PS The BART strikers are thugs who belong to unions, which are really really bad.
Fire them all!! Let them strike until we can break the union and give the jobs to people who want to work.
HELLO…..
How difficult is it to replace a BART employee that sits in the little booth and ignores customers, while carrying on a discussion with another BART employee. Meanwhile, while the escalator and/or the (filthy) elevator is out of service and a disabled customer is trying to figure out how to get to a (filthy) train OR get out of the (filthy)station.
One has to wonder….what type of working rules are they negotiating?
Like the nice PW front page piece that showcases BART leader. Just so the paper escapes any charges that it might support those corrupt workers and especially their really really corrupt leaders who are really really bad.
BART management has the backing of the corporate newspapers. Imagine that! Who would have thunk that?
And now the corrupt union leaders want to argue their case for better conditions of work before a third party arbitrator and BART management won’t budge. Because, you see, it’s better that the public doesn’t ride than actually bring the case before arbitration. Because, who knows, maybe the arbitrator will be objective. And then management would have to re-do their spin. And maybe those corrupt workers and their especially – I mean really especially – corrupt leaders might win.
Our best tactic is to simply showcase BART management, making sure its voice is heard over the corrupt workers and their really corrupt leaders, and keep on talking about how corrupt union workers are — I mean not workers, but their leadership which is really really corrupt. I mean, how much do the corrupt leaders make in relation to BART’s managers? See what I mean?
Repeal the BART Tax! No service, no tax!!
For goodness sake, can we just get a spine.
All the BART workers should be fired immediately. Contact your representative on the BART board to push for that to happen.
The laws in California should be changed immediately to not allow government workers to strike. Contact Governor Moonbeam and let him know his reelection is in danger if the laws are changed to disallow government worker strikes. Contact you representatives in the Legislature and give them the same message.
please please please fellow posters…lets be civil…let cooler heads prevail…tee hee
how low can management stoop is anybody’s guess…slugs!
oops…THUGS!
hurry up…go stand in line to catch a shuttle…tee hee
Hey Cholo I thought it was too good to be true…Cholo is just tryin to be of assistance…BS..I’m surprised you can even spell assistance.
Oh and then I scrolled down and there it was same old BS from Cholo.
No we can not get along when there folks like you that like to muddy the water.
Cholo…you do make us laugh…you are a funny guy…
Thanks for Listening, Julia Pardini from Alamo
please please please train and hire new BART workers. The workers have a fantastic deal already and I think it is more than they are really worth. I would also change the BART rules and fix the requirements that the union put in place to ensure BART has to do so much overtime. The unions have put in so many roadblocks that has required an excessive amount of overtime.
Gee,I see that all the bleeding hearts are backing management as usual. People have not listened to the union reps that have flat out said Bart never wanted to bargin and now that the unions have gone on strike again Bart now brings in the board president.The board president now wants to bargin,where was this moron weeks ago to get this contract settled. I’ll tell you were he was,sitting on his butt waiting for the unions to back down now it’s day late start from scratch.
Instead of just talking here we all should call email and pressure our union loving politicians to have a spine and pass a law banning strikes for essential services like BART and have mandatory arbitration.
“We” are NOT all appalled by anything. Speak for yourself…thx very much!
I’m delighted to report that many commuters are ticked pink to show up late to work. That’s life. Nobody is always on time to work…face reality!
For most folks who are mostly shut down, this is an opportunity to tune into you anger and spress you-sef! tee hee…
I promise I will not lose any sleep…tee hee…
Just heard that BART workers are escorting picketers to the stations on…you guessed it…BART trains.
Absolutely astounding.
So if you were t write the bullet points of the contract, what would it look like?
1) Salary not to exceed 2x the average nationwide salary
2) sick time is capped at 2 weeks per year, not bankable
3) overtime paid after 40 hrs a week, or beyond 8 hrs in a single day I if 5x 8 hr week, or beyond 10 hrs in a 4×10 shift
4) shift start/stop location is the same, location
5) pension, no salary spiking. Avg of last 3 yrs not to exceed 80% of current average worker salary
…
Here are the names and email for the BART Board of Directors:
John McPartland, representing Pleasanton, and Tom Radulovich, Chair
boardofdirectors@bart.gov
Contact the President as well as the Governor, because they really care what you think and your letter just might be the tipping point!
Once we get a quorum, we can step out of this phone booth and have a march of three up Main.
Or better yet, contact the real leader of our country, Sarah Palin. She and the TEA Party are for standing up against workers claiming too many rights. Next they’ll be clamoring about safety, health, and other sudo-issues. Maybe Sarah can bring a protest bus and tear down the pickets. Or, after she arrives, we can all ride her bus to Sacramento to complain about these uppidity you know whats! (See photos, if you know what I mean!)
Bart should rescind the current offer and put up the Help Wanted sign. The work rules the unions want to protect are the pinnacle of 1970’s style inefficiency. More and more it appears that the unions use BART as a high paying jobs program with a complete disregard for their own cost structure, their customers, or taxpayers that both pay the fairs and subsidize the 30% of cost that revenues don’t cover.
I want to thank the PW editors for censoring the views of those who support this gawd awful strike. Their views don’t belong. Only views that repeat, again and again and again, that the strikers are bad, really bad, as we see above, should be allowed to stand uncensored. For damning references to the thug workers and their thug leaders are really really relevant; they’re really really appropriate.
I also want to commend the newspaper for having such a severe view of labor’s inappropriate views. The editors are doing a real service to the community by censoring pro-labor views the way it does. Because those views are truly inappropriate and just don’t belong.
Finally, the newspaper’s censorship — one of it’s bloggers calls it ‘moderation’ in true “liberal” fashion — affirms what most of us who support labor have known all along: The PW is biased to the point of being a complete joke.
So says Kathleen, the self-annointed de facto editor/censor of this newspaper. This is the first time I’ve ever heard her get exercised over a racist comment. When her tag team partners in TEA sink frequently into the bog of racist remarks, you’ll never hear a peep from her. As for her above remarks, well they are completely consistent with the management bootlicking that she exemplifies on other threads. As for my so-called racist remark (attributed to me despite a different poster taking responsibility for the post), she’s suggesting the editors are too stupid to recognize over-the-top sarcasm and hyperbole. Especially when it offends their own reactionary biases. Increasingly that’s the only conclusion one can deduce.
And what point is DaVeg attempting to make? Other, that is, than to sate his fascination with another poster?
I wouldn’t be too hard on the daveg just because it has a crush on Mike Cherry.
He’s just struggling to show his tweety bird side!
catch my drift? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…
You can almost bet this will last another week. If it does, the workers may have to sacrafice any retro pay from striking.The problem with this whole battle is that years ago the union was able to get terms that shouldn’t have ever been agreed to. Luckily collective bargaining agreements are revisted every few years. Some of the work rules are completely rediculous and have been abused. Even the pension and healthcare contribution percentages are out of line. This state is broke . It still has to deal with pension liabilities and other issues, and the citizens of this state are over taxed it is. This battle is an example of the problem with this state. Hopefully the prison union is the next one addressed.
I allude to Kathleen’s Tea Party tendencies, and I’m censored — on what grounds? Who knows, but editors will censor anyone who reveals Kathleen’s ideological roots in the Tea Party movement.
Kathleen, in turn, falsely attributes racism — “racist comments” — to myself and her comments are allowed to stand.
Notice the double standard by the editors, who appear so pathetically out of depth as censors that all one can conclude is that they exude a rag-like newspaper bias.
ps As far as I’m concerned, Kathleen, go right ahead and use the word ‘thug’ all you desire. It’s a legitimate word in the dictionary, and I’d never even think of censoring folks for using it.
Nice ooze out of the corner you painted yourself in on the other site, by the way, where the censors rescued you yet once again. I wonder how many ‘complaints’ from you and your TP compatriots it took to get the site shut down?
Oh, okay, now it’s the ‘play dumb’ card. I have been censored on this site, as has Cholo. Kathleen pretends not to know how the editors have and continue to ‘disappear’ posts they do not like — deleting name and expressed opinion, in their entirety. They also continue to effectively shut down sites when the Tea Party crowd is taking a verbal/ideational lashing, more often than not doing so while giving Kathleen her last word on the matter.
I have provided no racist comments on this site or any other. Nor has Kathleen called me on it. Oh, except for when she preposterously called racist my use of the term ‘folks’ for reasons private to her own little bubble world and I doubt anyone else’s.
To say that someone’s ideas (Kathleen’s) are wholly consistent with a movement’s ideology (Tea Party) is hardly a bald faced lie. It is an opinion and, in light of what the referred to individual has been posting, can be left to readers to discern. The right-wing editors of PW do not think so. I can’t figure out whether the editors think they’re defending Kathleen or the Tea Party. Inasmuch as their ideas are one and the same, I suppose they think themselves to be doing both. Censorship — right-wing censorship of ideas that combat Tea Party ideology — is what we’re left with.
‘Folks’ is exactly the word Kathleen called me on, I asked for a rationale for such bizarre reaction on her part, and she provided a zan,y cryptic explanation that only underscored a certain ‘private world’ way of thinking about the world.
I’ve never stated that Kathleen is a member of the Tea Party. I have opined, on many an occasion, that her position is entirely consistent with Tea Party ideology. When it walks and sounds like a duck….
DaVeg, when PW censors shut down a site, restricting it only to those who are registered, it amounts to effectively shutting down the site. If you can’t imagine why I’d be averse to registering as a registered user, then you’d never be able to understand my rationale, though I’ll give you a hint: I’d rather sniff dirt than give my real name and address to the likes of yourself and the censors whose ideology is consistent with yours.
Okay, DaVeg, now that two people have died, why don’t you go back to your recurring rant about how ‘anybody can drive one of those trains.’ Feel good about yourself.
Gotta say, the PW folks deserve a lot of credit for how they do things. They’ve got plenty of time to hang out on these sites, censoring views they don’t like; but two deaths on the Bart tracks now approx. 6 hours ago and nada. Are they going to wait for a memorandum from the chief administrator at BART before they report anything?
There’s Kathleen, jumping to conclusions and making unsubstantiated (false) claims about me. Wow, she’s something else!
My criticisms are at PW journalists/censors who seem to have lots of time for censorship and none for reporting on labor-related stories.
BTW Kath, Harvey Seagal had this story covered (with facts) several hours ago. Like I say, you’re something else,
It’s difficult to provide evidence of a negative, Kathleen. Do you see any evidence of PW being on this story? What a joke you are.
Oh, and your inference from your careful readings that the operators were skilled? Yes, one of them was an operator … some 20 years ago.
As numerous stories have indicated, a training program to run the present day cars takes 15-16 weeks. The management scabs running the trains today did not have that training.
But keep spinning away, Kathleen.
What “coverage” are you referring to, Kathleen? The single linked story your provided. Yes, you are really something. Being “skilled” does not a train operator make. I’m “skilled” too, but I shouldn’t be shuttling Bart cars around with workers on the tracks. But keep on spinning. I’m sure you’re gobbling up as truth each and every ambiguous, dissembling statement made by the BART scabs.
Let’s be clear, Kathleen. You’re the one who has been making claims of fact — about the tragedy and about me — and they’ve all been sorely lacking. Put it to rest. No one is impressed with your tiresome, face-saving spins.
More dishonest face-saving from the tiresome one. Instead of boring us with your trite accusations, why don’t you get involved in the discussion occurring on the most recent site — the one started by Harvey Seagal which appeared several hours before you began with your narcissistic drivel.
Perhaps those deaths could have been avoided if the bart workers did not walk off the job. My condolences to their families and hope that the bart workers go back to work and accept the latest management offer which includes workplace rules that are archaic and cost the taxpayers a ton of unnecessary money.
Perhaps those deaths might have been avoided had management scabs not been moving cars around the tracks with people moving them who weren’t qualified to do so. Perhaps the strike might have been avoided had management offered workers a fair and reasonable contract. … I was waiting how long it would take for some yahoo to blame this on the workers. Then, again, editor-censors will probably mount chk’s view on their desks as the ‘post of the week’.
For the record, many of my posts re: the tragic deaths of the killed BART employees have been deleted by PW staff.
Kathleen you already know how to search for a story, look up any story yourself.
Cholo
To: TEA, Cynthia, Dominic – Kathleen is baiting you…attempting to engage you and then harm you emotionally, knowing that Union supporters are in emotional pain from the deaths of 2 BART employees.
TEA, Cynthia, and Dominic take good care of yourselves and be kind to others who are currently also mourning the killing of 2 friends.
Yes, Cholo, you’re right. It’s called trolling. You know, when a poster plays dumb in the face of a good deal of evidence?
Two people are dead who shouldn’t be, Bart management has been dissembling with ambiguous and oblique claims, such that the NTSB felt a need to step in from the get-go, but the troll is upset that another poster is using the word ‘scab’. The girl is really something.
Yes, Cholo, PW editor-censors and right-wing trolls are upset by this tragic occurrence. All the ‘newspaper’s’ censorship has been directed singularly at union sympathizers. I guess the ‘editor’-censors are afraid the delicate sensibilities of their predominantly white, upper-middle class readers will be overwhelmed if too many labor-sympathetic posts are allowed to stand.
If the PW editors want to act like a bourgeois company they should abandon all pretense of being an objective newspaper and simply play the corporate advertising game which, in the final analysis, is probably what they are best equipped for.
TEA, yes, corporations are bad, really really bad. Unless they are in your pension portfolio, of course. The people on strike aren’t the thugs. That’s an honor saved for their leadership. I wonder why that leadership believes they will gain support of the public and their elected officials with this tactic. You are trying to bring everyone to their knees, but it isn’t going to work. BART management has the backing this time.
Eric, can you with a straight face say that what the union is demanding is realistic? If so you would rank right up there with the idiotic comment made by Antonette Bryant, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, in describing her management counterparts:
“These people have no concern for the riding public, and we are appalled at that. It’s important for us that the public understand that we are being pushed into a position of striking.”
“Pushed” into a position of striking! Labeling that remark as stupid does a disservice to the word stupid!
For Pleasanton residents, let your duly elected representatives know how you feel about the ridiculous demands by the BART unions and encourage them to develop a backbone to deal with out of control unions.
For Ellen Corbett; http://sd10.senate.ca.gov/contact
For Mark DeSaulnier; http://sd07.senate.ca.gov/
Get involved!
To hope that the likes of Mark Desaulnier really are interested in representing his constituent’s, one only has to look at who is contributing to him.
http://maplight.org/california/legislator/1277-mark-desaulnier
Can’t hurt to contact the governor as well. http://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php
And not any better with Ellen Corbett! Talk about unions having legislators in their back pockets.
http://maplight.org/california/legislator/1269-ellen-corbett
The first reference to thugs on the page was made by you. I’m sure, like your racist comments on the other thread, this was tongue in cheek. Nothing here prevents you from finding another publication to post on that is more suitable to your sensibilities.
T.E.A. Joe sounds sadly like Mike Cherry, etc., but now just using a different moniker. When he starts the personal attacks on others, any point that he might have had is lost. Another conclusion that can be deduced is that when one has to resort to personal attacks, they really don’t have much of a point to make. Terms like “management bootlicking” are the type of remarks one resorts to when they really don’t have anything worthwhile to contribute.
You were feigning alarm at people using the word thug when you were the one to bring it up in the first place. False dilemmas.
Did they remove the entire post without comment on this thread or another one, because I don’t see where you were censored here. If you were censored, it is likely because the tea party stuff is a bald faced lie only you try to perpetuate. On another thread you commented along the lines of “well you know” to refer to a group of people. I called you on it. If they remove your post, they can also remove my follow up.
I hadn’t looked at the other thread, so I was not aware of what’s changed. I look at the list on Town Square, and if there are no new comments, I don’t go back to that thread. I don’t know if anyone complained; I did not.
T.E.A. Joe, i.e. Mike Cherry, I have never seen where the PW has “shut down sites”. They may require one to become a registered user to continue to post. Do you have a problem with that? Perhaps you could enlighten us on an example of a site that has, to use your words been”shut down” by PW.
Maybe you could play in the sandbox better?? I’ve been censored; so have others. I figure there is a lesson to be learned from it. As the post in question was removed, I can’t say exactly what you posted. I absolutely detest the word “folks”, but that wasn’t what I called you on. There was an implication in the post, and the PW might have agreed.
I also could say you having leanings of ideology of one kind or another based on your posts. To what purpose? The fact that I am not a member of the tea party seems lost on you. It isn’t opinion, it’s spurious and speculative and is posted as deducible fact. You are wrong, but I am sure you can get over the mistake.
T.E.A. Joe/Mike Cherry, only in your mind would requiring one to register ever be construed as shutting down a site. Obviously your arguments aren’t strong enough for you to register. To register, you certainly don’t have to give your physical address and for the likes of you, not necessary to use your real name. You could always use one of your many aliases previously used! Continue to sniff dirt!
True to form, TEA Joe criticizes but provides no actual information. Here is a link to the story about the two deaths: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Two-injured-by-BART-train-driven-during-strike-4909974.php
You criticized but provided no information. I did see “Harvey” and Cholo are having a long conversation. This accident is certainly a tragedy. The coverage so far is indicating these were not unskilled people. We’ll know more as this gets investigated. More importantly, I will agree with Cholo’s posts expressing concern for the families.
According to the coverage all three were skilled and the train was on auto. I do not know why the PW hasn’t covered this yet. They are a local paper with a small staff; maybe that’s a reason; maybe it’s not.
CNN, CBS, SF GATE, KTVU, Huffington Post, LA Times– just google BART deaths. I’m sure there are other news sources. I restated what was said. Truth is neither you nor I are privy to the whole story yet.
I made no claim of fact regarding the deaths. I did say you mentioned the deaths without citation.
Good morning, I already agreed with Cholo here about concern for the families. The other thread appears to now only be Cholo’s. No need to interrupt.
“One of the unions on strike, Amalgamated Transit Union 1555, announced that its 900 workers would not be picketing on Sunday out of respect for the victims and their families.” This is a wonderful kindness.
I wish there was more hopefulness about this upcoming vote: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/BART-Union-Will-Take-Offer-For-Vote-228480291.html
TEA, and Cynthia, Cholo, and Dominic on the other thread, all have answers to what happened, who’s at fault, whose heads should roll, who was unqualified. I don’t know why the NTSB bothered to fly two people out to investigate. Can you cite where all this information is coming from?
Cholo, I said I read a whole host of stories and have found none of what you or others have claimed, so I would like to see where that information is from. I am not baiting anyone or hoping to hurt anyone, but you cannot say the same of those using words like “scab.” The deaths were an accident; the person(s) on the train must also be devastated. There is already enough pain to go around without assigning blame without the facts.
Two people should not have died. NTSB had to step in; otherwise, no one would believe an impartial investigation was done. Everything else you’ve written is contrived.
Is this the same Joe that posted a common sense comment on another link? As “Joe” noted on another posting, “I wish all of BART’s issues could be blamed on one person. The death of the two workers was tragic, but it can’t be directly attributed to the general manager, the operations manager in charge that day, the unions, the strike, or anything else. A surprising number of railroad workers doing track work are killed by trains every year. These are professional people working in and around railroads each day, and still they get struck and killed or injured.
In BART’s case, from what I’ve read, track workers operate in pairs. One works and the other keeps watch for trains. Yet, they were both struck and killed yesterday. And this was not the first time. A worker was killed in 2008, not too far from Saturday’s accident, and in 2009 a worker was injured while working on the new West Dublin station. Also in 2009, two trains ran into each other in the tunnel below Oakland. None of those accidents happened while a strike was going on. BART has an enviable safety record, even with yesterday’s accident”.
Additionally to imply that “the NTSB felt a need to step in from the get-go” is if nothing else misleading. According to their (NTSB) website “The NTSB is an independent federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the U.S. and significant accidents in other modes of transportation-railroad, highway, marine and pipeline”. Unfortunately the death of two humans certainly would be considered “significant” and the NTSB involvement has nothing to do with any actions, pro or con, taken by BART management.
I wonder why this “Joe” continues to post if he feels that the “newspaper’s censorship has been directed singularly at union sympathizers”. Perhaps he could find another place to post that is more to his liking regarding his “union sympathizers” viewpoints