OAKLAND, California (AP)--two San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit's largest Union went on strike since the weekend with management talks has been able to produce a new contract, guaranteeing a nightmare journey ahead for travelers Monday.
The strike was called as contracts of service employees International Union Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 workers expired at midnight on Sunday. Trade unions and the Administration earlier in the day said they were separated in the main points of friction, including salaries, pensions, health and safety.
"I am deeply disappointed, it has come to this," negotiator SEIU Josie Mooney said to reporters at a midnight press conference.
"Our members are not interested in disrupting the Bay area, but management has put us in a position where we have no choice," said the President of the Local ATU Antonette Bryant.
Negotiations fell apart Saturday and unions walked away from the table. The Office of the Governor of California Jerry Brown urged both sides to resume discussions on Sunday with the horizon in rush hour. But talks between the two parties came to an end shortly before 20:30, when Union negotiators left the State Office building in Oakland, which had been opened for the day as a neutral meeting ground.
BART accused Union negotiators get away from the negotiating table while Union negotiators replied that it was embedded in the Union Hall and told management that they had until midnight to offer a new proposal it considers.
The strike is to derail the riders more than 400,000 who use the rail in fifth place of the nation and affect every mode of transportation. Transportation authorities say could be another 60,000 vehicles on the road, obstruction of roads and bridges in the Bay area.
The unions, which represent nearly 2,400 train operators, agents of the station, mechanics, maintenance and professional staff workers, called for an annual increase of 5 percent over the next three years. BART said on Saturday that train operators and agents of the station on average unions approximately $71,000 in base salary and $11,000 in time extra per year. Workers also pay a monthly fee of $92 flat for health insurance.
Spokesman BART Rick Rice said BART had its original offer of a 4 percent pay increase over the next four years to 8%. The proposed salary increase is also an increase of 1% employees were scheduled to receive on Monday, said Rice. .
The transit agency also stated that it offered to reduce the contribution of the employees would have to make to their pensions and lower the cost of health premiums would have to pay.
Bryant said Sunday that the latest proposal of BART is not a real wage increase, calling it "surface bargaining".
Latest BART strike lasted six days in 1997. The handles of the the transit agency more than 40 per cent of travelers coming from the East Bay to San Francisco with the Bay Bridge handling 50 percent, said John Goodwin, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Other agencies of transport in the region urged travelers to consider sharing vehicles, buses or ferries, working from home, and if you must work, leave earlier or even later than usual.
Mayor of San Francisco Ed Lee said the city will offer more transportation options, including at the airport and increase staff for the management of traffic. BART said that you will allow travelers to use parking lots in their 33 seasons for free in order to share the trip.
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