Latest BART strike ends after four days
Written by Douglas John BowenManagement and union negotiators reached a deal late Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 to end the four-day strike affecting BART service in the San Francisco Bay area.
Limited BART service was expected to resume early Tuesday, Oct. 22, as the railroad’s labor force of about 2,300 began returning to work. BART officials expect full service to be in place Tuesday afternoon.
Details of the agrement were not immediately released. The BART Board of Directors and the members of two unions still need to approve the tentative deal, though approval is expected by both sides.
“This offer is more than we wanted to pay,” BART General Manager Grace Crunican told local media. “We compromised to get to this place, as did our union members.”
“We will go back to work and continue our efforts to keep the Bay Area moving,” said Antonette Bryant, president of the local Amalgamated Transit Union.
BART workers walked off the job Friday, Oct. 18, just after midnight, unhappy with the agency’s overtime compensation proposals and attempts to limit various costs. A strike by workers last July lasted four days.
