BART strike set for Friday after talks break down, emotion boils over

Posted: 10/17/2013 06:23:19 AM PDT

Updated: 10/17/2013 04:48:21 PM PDT

OAKLAND -- The heat at the long-simmering BART strike negotiations was turned way up Thursday when exasperated union leaders announced they would shut down trains at midnight -- for sure this time -- after a breakdown at the bargaining table.

A wild round of back-and-forth press conferences at 4 p.m. brought to a live TV audience an outpouring of emotion from sleep-deprived negotiators -- and it was headlined by the unions' blunt declaration for the Bay Area to prepare for a commute nightmare Friday.

'Unfortunately, yes -- we are on strike as of midnight,' said Antonette Bryant, president of the local Amalgamated Transit Union. 'Today I stand before you deeply disappointed that we were unable to' reach a deal.

Negotiators said both sides had finally agreed on the main economic issues -- pay and benefits -- that had separated them for more than six months. But unions said they were fed up after management tried to impose new work rules and refused to let a neutral arbitrator settle those remaining differences.

'This isn't the end of it -- it's the beginning,' BART General Manager Grace Crunican said, taking the microphone after Bryant had went back inside the negotiating office in downtown Oakland. Some union members lingering around began to heckle her. 'It's not management that asked for the strike -- it's the union.'

In the middle of it all, the federal government's top mediator -- George Cohen, who had been praised since joining the talks on Sunday -- remarkably took to the podium to declare there was nothing more he could do.

'Unfortunately, regrettably, we were not able to bring them the result we all want to achieve: a voluntary collective bargaining agreement,' Cohen said. 'We made a mediator's determination that there was nothing further we were able to do. Our mediation process has come to an end.'

Still, the unions and management went back to the bargaining table at 4:30, continuing an epic bargaining session that began about 30 hours prior and left negotiators wearing day-old clothes. If a deal could be reached Thursday night, a strike would be averted.

A shutdown would leave 200,000 people who ride BART roundtrip each day stranded for the second time in three months after a 4½-day walkout in July.

A 60-day cooling-off period ordered by Gov. Jerry Brown twice averted threatened shutdowns in August but ended Oct. 10. In six of the eight previous nights, unions had threatened to strike but wound up calling it off late at night.

But the unions sounded much angrier, and more direct, on Thursday night than at any point in the past week.

'It's now in the hands of the BART board and the general manager to avoid a strike,' said Roxanne Sanchez, president of the other union, the local Service Employees International Union. 'I'm sorry, I'm regretful, I don't know what to say to the public who has put such faith in the leadership of those who work at BART. The employer has been unwilling to reach an agreement or settle these disputes without a strike.'

Thursday marks 200 days since the opening of the negotiating period. Earlier in the day, BART's chief negotiator, Thomas Hock, said 'this should be the final stretch.'

'It's a very difficult time,' Hock said earlier in the day. 'Everyone is trying as hard as they possibly can try. We've been here since Sunday working 12, 14, 16-hour days. It's not going to go down for a lack of trying.'

Staff writers Matthias Gafni, Gary Peterson and Doug Oakley contributed to this report. Contact Mike Rosenberg at 408-920-5705. Follow him at twitter.com/RosenbergMerc.