The BART Strike is Over, But Short Notice for Workers Means Morning Delays

On their first day operating after a four-day strike, BART trains are experiencing systemwide delays between 30 and 45 minutes Tuesday morning, a BART spokesman said. 

Shortly before 6 a.m., BART officials announced that trains are running and all stations are open, but major delays are to be expected.

BART spokesman Jim Allison said that 25 trains are running as of 6 a.m., instead of the full service schedule that consists of about 45 trains.

Allison said BART employees were given short notice to return to work after the strike was called off Monday night, causing BART trains to be less than fully staffed this morning.

Strike Called Off Late Monday

BART management and two of its unions announced a tentative agreement Monday night, ending a four-day strike with partial train service expected to resume Tuesday morning. 

Contract negotiations resumed Monday afternoon after service was suspended when workers walked off the job Friday. 

The walkout was the second this year, after contentious negotiations resulted in a four-day strike in July.

Partial train service is expected to resume starting as early as 6 a.m., with full restoration expected in time for the afternoon commute, BART general manager Grace Crunican said. 

Management and union leaders from Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 worked with a federal mediator to reach the tentative agreement, which still must be approved by BART's Board of Directors and put up for a vote by the two unions. 

The unions submitted a new contract offer Sunday night that included concessions related to work rules governing the use of technology but in the proposal union members "insisted on retaining work rules" that protect safety. 

Flanked by politicians in Oakland, union leaders and BART management announced the end of the strike that snarled Bay Area traffic and flooded alternative public transportation. 

"This has got to be the last time this happens. I think everyone's fed up, no one wants to see this happen ever again," Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said, adding that the new contract "sets a course to deal with grievances so they don't fester and create the kind of distrust" that led to the protracted negotiations over the last few months. 

Newsom said that the details of that would be revealed over the coming days and weeks, but few other details of the agreement were revealed. 

"This offer is more than we wanted to pay, but it is also a new path for our partnership with our workers," Crunican said. "We compromised to get to this place as did our union members.

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