THE
MEDIANEWS editorial ("BART simply must take hard-line in employee
negotiations," May 12) on BART's budget problems suggests that it's all
the fault of the hard working employees who keep the Bay Area's most
important transit system moving. These 3,200 local residents, the
theory goes, are ruining the BART by making livable wages and getting
affordable health care and retirement security. They are being told to
give that up because, apparently, the people who provide the region's
commuters with a viable and environmental transit option don't deserve
the basics.
This ugly and divisive approach
obscures the fact that working people in the Bay Area are all in this
current economic crisis together. We face surviving a collapse brought
about by bankers and Wall Street speculators. As we try to fix what
these merchants of merchandising have broken, it is unconscionable to
have one of the largest media conglomerates in the country try to turn
working people against each other.
Yes, BART has a financial
problem, like every other public infrastructure providing an essential
service to the general population. How could it not feel and show the
effects of an imploding national economy? But reducing the living
standards of another large segment of the local populace is not a
rational policy. It just puts more folks in line for unemployment and
other social services that cost us all more. As President Obama has
pointed out, the road to recovery includes getting more and more Americans good jobs with decent wages and health care.
The
very examples of work rules the editorial takes out of context and uses
to ridicule the union employees reveal the Times' anti-worker bias.
These are not, as the editorial asserts, union featherbedding abuses.
These are work rules developed and agreed to by both management and the
unions to do the work more efficiently and cost effectively. These are
the results of past union bargaining, of the kind of cooperation in
finding solutions for the benefit of everyone, that come out of real
good faith negotiations.the road to recovery includes getting more and more Americans good jobs with decent wages and health care.
The unionized BART workers are ready to
roll up their sleeves and partner with BART administration to help find
solutions to the budget deficit as we begin bargaining a new contract
this summer. But the divisive approach of setting commuting workers
against the transit workers won't help find solutions.
Check out our published response on the Contra Costa Times.