If you're a BART commuter, you have a governor -- and a judge -- to thank if you get to work on time Monday.
With the Bay Area mere days away from the second BART strike in as many months, it was Gov. Jerry Brown who came to the rescue on Friday.
Brown -- who last week bought Bay Area commuters a weeklong reprieve, after a 30-day extension on labor negotiations between BART and its unions expired Aug. 4 -- announced Friday that he will ask a San Francisco Superior Court judge to impose a 60-day cooling off period that would push the next strike to October.
BART workers went on strike for four and a half days in early July, and are $44 million apart from management on terms for a new labor agreement.
A hearing on the 60-day cooling off period is scheduled for Sunday morning.
After over four months of negotiations, BART and its unions remain apart, far apart, on terms for a new labor contract. They're so far apart that they can't even agree on how far apart they are, as the report from Gov. Brown's three-person BART panel observed.
BART went on strike from July 1 to July 5, a move which pleased no
one aside from ride-sharing startups and telecommuters who enjoy other
peoples' misery.
Despite little progress in the 30 days since then, BART's unions said Wednesday that they felt a deal could be struck by Sunday night. They also said that they could issue a 48-hour notice of another strike Friday.
BART, for its part, said in a statement Thursday that a deal could be made "as long as the unions are ready to move towards a reasonable settlement."
BART management said that it had hoped a 60-day cooling-off period will not be necessary. It was not immediately clear if the unions will attempt to convince the judge not to delay BARTpocalypse II to October.
