Bart workers strike against two-tier

by Herb Kaye

This article was reprinted from the Sept. 18, 1997 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

Rejecting management's proposed contract that would maintain a two tier wage system for five years, the 2600 workers of the Bay Area Regional Transit System (BART), walked out on strike at midnight Saturday Sept. 6. At press time, the two sides were engaged in non-stop talks to reach a tentative agreement.

By Monday morning some 275,000 commuters who depend on BART to get to and from work were scrounging around for other means of transportation as talks between the three unions representing the workers and management of BART were at a standstill.

Maintenance and clerical workers represented by Local 790 SEIU, voted by 943 to 199 to reject management's contract offer. Train operators of Local 1555, Amalgamated Transit Workers voted 486 to 13 to reject. 225 Middle management workers of Local 3993 AFSCME are also on strike.

"[The two tier wage] has really created a lot of animosity among the work force," said Marta Carney, a negotiator for ATU Local 1555. "Our whole premise is equal pay for equal work."

That sentiment was echoed by many of the pickets we talked to at various BART stations in Oakland. Under the current three year contract union workers hired after January 1, 1995 have still not reached the top of the pay scale, and won't reach it for another three years. Workers feel that is too long, and it creates bad feelings among the lower paid workers who are doing the same work but being paid less than their co-workers doing the same work.

Management and the media are trying to turn public opinion against the strikers on the grounds that they are "high paid," with senior motormen getting $40,000 a year, but workers point out that living costs in the Bay area are the third highest in the U.S. after New York City and Honolulu, and living costs keep outdistancing income.

Debbie Smith, a clerical worker member of Local 790, pointed out that "Twenty years ago I paid $110 a month rent on my apartment - now my house payments are $1900 a month and I've got a daughter in college and I can't get by on what I'm making."

While management says it has no money to meet union demands, it has used substantial funds for expansion of facilities, and huge salary increases for executives. Funding for mass transit is one of the areas where state and federal appropriations have been severely cut by politicians seeking to give priority to budget balancing over social needs.

Support for the BART workers is being organized by Bay Area Central Labor Council which is calling on all area unions to rally behind the BART strikers. The California State Federation of Labor called a meeting of area labor councils on Monday, September 8 to organize all-out support for the strike. Teamster Joint Council president Chuck Mack had earlier pledged that no Teamsters would deliver any materials across any BART workers picket lines, and other members from area unions have begun to turn up at the picket lines to show support.