BART STRIKE -Unions create HAVOC for 400,000

BART UNIONS PUT A BULLET TO THE HEAD OF COMMUTERS-Again

                        Ever since BART was first put into service back in 1972, labor unions have held commuters hostage with a series of devastating strikes.  And they’ve done so successfully each time with little pushback from local politicians who often show either open or muted support for the strikers.  California politicians and labor are incestuous.

The largest cost to BART riders is labor. Unions went on strike a mere 4 years after BART was first put into service in 1972 with their first strike in 1976, then In 1979 they did it again.    Beefing up salaries 1991and 1997 again.  And why not strike in every instance BART management capitulated and local politicians supplicated themselves to the labor unions.  Now,  these overpaid and underworked unionistas are now striking stranding 400,000 daily riders.  The costs to both business and employees for missed work will run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.  So this is how the unions negotiate with their management- bring the rest of the bay area to its knees and cause maximum economic damage to the riders and the businesses of the bay area.  This is economic hostage taking. 

Station agents at BART, who sit in the glass booth watching commuters arrive are making big bucks.  It was reported that one station agent, made a measly $167K a year; a base pay: $63,857. Overtime: $52,501. Other pay: $15,148. Benefits: $36,277. Total: $167,784. BART workers only pay $92 a month to cover their entire family’s health insurance that costs the system well over $2,000 month.    These salaries for high school educated BART workers  outdo most professional salaries for civil engineers ($104k) and science researchers ($87K) in San Francisco.   An average BART salary is $83K a year, a teacher with 10 years of experience in San Francisco makes $50K a year.  Why study when the under-educated earn more?

Why are critical government workers allowed to strike?  How did this happen?   The  SEIU and the ATU, the two largest unions representing BART workers, were able to negotiate a strike clause into a contract even before other civil servants in the state were allowed to strike.    It was the beginning of the end of fiscal responsibility and sanity for California.  California was later irrevocably harmed in 1978 by legislation signed by then Gov. Brown allowing collective bargaining for all public employees. No single legislation has harmed Californians more.   Now Gov. Jerry Brown who has the legal authority and could have ordered a 60 day cooling off period to prevent the strike, but refused to do so. Connect the dots.  We’re screwed.