ATU 1555 Votes To Accept A Contract For The Second Time At BART

ATU 1555 Votes To Accept A Contract For The Second Time At BART
1 union votes to approve revised BART contract
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-union-signs-off-on-new-contra...

Nellie Bowles
Updated 4:42 pm, Saturday, January 4, 2014

One of BART's two largest unions has approved a revised contract with the transit district, bringing the protracted labor drama one step closer to conclusion.

Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, which represents train operators, station agents and other workers, ratified the four-year agreement late Friday. BART's largest labor organization, Service Employees International Union Local 1021, is scheduled to vote on the contract Jan. 13.

Both unions originally ratified the contract Nov. 1, but had to go back to the bargaining table when transit district officials declined to sign the agreement, saying that their negotiators had mistakenly approved a clause giving workers up to six weeks of paid family leave.

The revised contract, which featured some modest changes in the agreement in exchange for dropping the disputed family leave clause, was approved Thursday by BART's Board of Directors.

After a nearly seven-month negotiation process that included two strikes, these final votes will come as a relief to the 400,000 daily riders who rely on BART.

But there was little celebration in the union hall Friday night, said ATU PresidentAntonette Bryant, who said she and her union members were offended by the entire process and the way they had been vilified in the media.

"After we counted the vote, we went home. It wasn't that big of a deal," she said. "There's time to celebrate when there's something to celebrate. This contract should have been resolved in June."

Nellie Bowles is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail:nbowles@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NellieBowles