SAN FRANCISCO - hundreds of thousands of travelers in the San Francisco Bay area have at least a temporary suspension of a massive transport strike when gov. Jerry Brown took part in a labor contract dispute.
Order 11th hour on Sunday night prevented the strike and the morning trip to continue normally, without widespread congestion trips that would have created a strike of Bay Area Rapid Transit, fifth largest railroad line of the nation, on the left.
In the order, Brown appointed a Board of researchers for an investigation of seven days in the dispute of the contract which had prepared to walk off the job at midnight on Sunday the unions.
The order issued Brown came under a law that allows the State's intervention if a strike significantly disrupt public transport services and endangering public health.
"For the sake of the people of the Bay area, urge you - in the strongest possible terms - parties to meet quickly and the time required to reach this dispute resolved," Brown said in the order.
Board will report its conclusions to the Governor, who can then petition the Court that calls for a 60-day cooling period, said Evan Westrup, a spokesman for Brown. The report explains BART and positions of trade unions, but not to criticize or issue a recommendation.
In a statement, spokesman BART Rick Rice said that Chairman of the Board Tom Radulovich transit authority sent a letter to the Governor requesting their intervention and a 60-day cooling period. The Governor issued an order with considerably less time a week.
"The formal impartial investigation that accompanies the period of reflection will help to clarify the points of difference between the proposals," said the statement.
Union leaders issued a critical statement after the order, accusing the binding BART management negotiators until they stayed only a few hours before the strike would have started to provide alternative proposals on the basis of pay and benefits.
"Our hope is that Research Council of Governor will reveal how little time BART management has been on the negotiating table in the last 30 days, compared to how much time has passed to the media, the position", said the President of SEIU 1021 Roxanne Sánchez.
Spokesman BART Alicia Trost said Sunday afternoon that is "extremely frustrating" that unions were misrepresenting the proposals of improvements that have been received, including wage increases, and the transit authority was working all weekend despite allegations of absence.
"We have made several proposals this weekend and all going in one direction and was above, above, above," Trost said.
Bay Area Rapid Transit managers and Union leaders had returned to the negotiating table on Sunday in the hope of avoiding a strike that would have affected 400,000 travelers and created nightmares of traffic for the area of San Francisco for the second time in a month.
Representatives of the two largest unions of employees in the Agency and BART management negotiated for about 14 hours on Saturday and resumed Sunday morning trading as be seen a deadline of midnight. Brown's order came at around 22:30 on Sunday.
Remain large differences on key issues, including wages, pensions, safety of workers and health care costs.
Union train operators and agents of station average approximately $71,000 in wage base and $11,000 in time extra per year. They pay nothing toward their pensions and a flatrate of $92 per month for the health insurance, according to BART.
To weigh allegations of binding Sunday afternoon, previously in the weekend Union leaders expressed cautious hope for agreement and said progress was being made.
"The parties made some important but incremental moves yesterday, and I hope to reach an agreement," Josie Mooney, Chief negotiator for the Service Employees International Union 1021, said Sunday before heading to the negotiations. "If the parties work very hard, then it is certainly possible in the amount of time that we have."
"Definitely there was movement on both sides," Chief negotiator BART Thomas Hock said as he left the final negotiations Saturday night. "I hope that, if we are moving ahead, we will arrive at a proposal which both parties can agree."
Two of BART's largest unions issued a 72-hour notice on Thursday that employees outside of work if they do not reach agreement on a new contract by midnight Sunday.
"BART is the backbone of the network of transit. Any other transit agency has the ability to absorb the capacity of BART if there is a disruption, "said John Goodwin, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
In the event of a strike, transit agencies had planned to add bus and ferry service, carpool lanes kept open throughout the day and even give coffee gift cards to encourage drivers to pick up riders. Also they were encouraging workers to avoid rush hour traffic or distance if possible.
When BART workers closed train service for four days at the beginning of July, the roads were packed and travelers waited in long queues for buses and ferries. Unions agreed to cancel that attack and extend their contracts until Sunday, while they continued negotiations.
Area of the Bay and State have been pressuring officials of BART and Union leaders to reach an agreement this weekend, saying that a strike would create hardship for working families and damage to the economy of the region.
___
Mohajer reported from Los Angeles.
Earlier the HuffPost:
