BART strike has commuters scrambling
At his post at Caltrans' traffic management center in Oakland, Officer Ron Simmons of the California Highway Patrol said traffic on the Bay Bridge heading into San Francisco was already backed up to the MacArthur Maze at 6 a.m. The key issues in the BART dispute are economic: wages, contributions to pensions and health insurance payments. Currently, BART employees, union and nonunion, make no contribution to their state pension plans and pay $92 a month for health insurance. BART said its latest proposal reduced the amount that the agency would require employees to begin contributing to pensions and to pay toward health insurance premiums. Part of the raise BART offered in the latest proposal is contingent, they said, on factors ranging from ambitious ridership increases and sales tax revenues to reductions in the number of employees seeking Family Medical Leave Act absences. BART says it wants to reach a fair deal with its employees but that it needs relief from skyrocketing pension and health benefits. To accommodate that growth, it needs to raise billions to pay for its share of 1,000 new railcars, a new train maintenance facility and a new train control system. Ridership has risenThe unions say their employees are responsible for keeping the aging system running well enough to transport more passengers than planners envisioned even four years ago. According to BART, they also make an average of $11,000 to $16,000 annually in overtime. Reported by SFGate 15 hours ago.
At his post at Caltrans' traffic management center in Oakland, Officer Ron Simmons of the California Highway Patrol said traffic on the Bay Bridge heading into San Francisco was already backed up to the MacArthur Maze at 6 a.m. The key issues in the BART dispute are economic: wages, contributions to pensions and health insurance payments. Currently, BART employees, union and nonunion, make no contribution to their state pension plans and pay $92 a month for health insurance. BART said its latest proposal reduced the amount that the agency would require employees to begin contributing to pensions and to pay toward health insurance premiums. Part of the raise BART offered in the latest proposal is contingent, they said, on factors ranging from ambitious ridership increases and sales tax revenues to reductions in the number of employees seeking Family Medical Leave Act absences. BART says it wants to reach a fair deal with its employees but that it needs relief from skyrocketing pension and health benefits. To accommodate that growth, it needs to raise billions to pay for its share of 1,000 new railcars, a new train maintenance facility and a new train control system. Ridership has risenThe unions say their employees are responsible for keeping the aging system running well enough to transport more passengers than planners envisioned even four years ago. According to BART, they also make an average of $11,000 to $16,000 annually in overtime. Reported by SFGate 15 hours ago.
