Labor leaders meet with BART union { Outside help? Thanks but no thanks }

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 8/15/9 | Rachel Gordon

[SmithL]

OAKLAND -- State and Bay Area labor leaders met behind closed doors Friday with BART transit union officials to try to avert a Monday morning strike....

Hard-line tactic

The 900-member Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 announced Thursday it would strike after the BART Board of Directors unilaterally imposed a contract on its members that included a de facto 7 percent pay cut. BART directors took the hard-line stance after the union rejected a negotiated contract offer on Monday that would have saved the transit agency $38 million in labor costs....

Eight years ago...Bay Area political leaders intervened to craft a deal just 23 hours before the strike deadline.

Politicians want to help

Several politicians say they are ready to help, but so far none has stepped into the negotiations.

Attorney General Jerry Brown, who helped settle the BART contract dispute in 2001, said he is ready to help, as is San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is also running for governor. Newsom offered his assistance and that of his labor team....

But some say the roles of outside politicians can be mixed....

Several BART board members, who are elected to their positions, said thanks but no thanks to outside political "interference."

"With all due respect to the mayors, the wannabe mayors and the legislators, I would ask them not to get involved because it could be counterproductive," said BART Director Joel Keller, a former mayor of Antioch. "Outside interference is not needed. The solution is going to be at the bargaining table between the two parties,"

He said BART is still smarting from the contract dispute eight years ago when then-Mayors Willie Brown of San Francisco and Jerry Brown of Oakland and state legislators intervened and the unions walked away with a 22 percent pay hike spread out over four years.

[jiggyboy]

“Everybody is entitled to everything” vs “Yes indeed, we are entitled to everything”.