Is Gov. Brown thinking of binding arbitration law? In BART Fight

Is Gov. Brown thinking of binding arbitration law? In BART Fight
http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Is-Gov-Brown-thinking-of-bin...
By Willie L. Brown, Jr.

4:39 PM

Mike Kepka, The Chronicle

Former Mayor Willie Brown poses for a portrait at his apartment in the St. Regis Hotel on Thursday July 31, 2008 in San Francisco, Calif.
Call it an educated hunch, but from my talk with our governor the other night, he may well push for a bill to require binding arbitration in transit-agency labor negotiations if the two sides in the BART talks don't make progress soon.

We were all up in Sacramento at the Stanford Mansion to raise money for the Kenneth L. Maddy Institute at California State University Fresno. I was emcee and Gov. Jerry Brown was the featured speaker.

During the course of the night, he peppered me with questions about what it would take to force both the unions and BART management to submit proposals to an outside arbitrator, who would make the call on the workers' next contract.

If there's one thing I know about our governor, it's that when he starts asking questions about something, he is definitely leaning in that direction.

Binding arbitration is not a popular idea with either side, and the threat of it becoming law down the line - like during the next BART negotiations - may be just enough to get both sides' attention.