Negotiations will resume with 30-day contract extension

by Brian Leubitz

It isn’t the deal that either side wanted, but the BART workers and management agreed to a 30 day contract extension that will put the system back in service by 3pm today:

Shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday, representatives from BART and the two unions that went on strike Monday announced that workers will go back to their jobs and trains will begin rolling by 3 p.m. Friday. BART will continue to run its bus service Friday morning.

The decision came at the request of state Labor Secretary Marty Morgenstern and state mediators.

Regular train service to 400,000 daily riders in the Bay Area will operate during the monthlong extension, officials said. But the contract dispute is far from over. When asked how many contract issues remain to be resolved, Morgenstern could only chuckle.

“I don’t have that much time,” he said.(SF Chronicle)

The state could have imposed a 60 day cooling off period, but the net result would have been a strike around Labor Day week. What the four and a half day strike will mean for the negotiation is still unclear, as it seems that no side really won a great PR victory.