BART'S BAD LUCK...

 The BART unions went on strike for
months , after 2 deaths it
was over...

The last couple of days the whole Bay Area was under the grip of a cleverly orchestrate terrorism , that had nothing to do with bombs , but with words .  My opinion here is that BART workers failed to make their case to the public and the strike is leaving a lot of animosity in the air. The BART strike ,the second in the series of "strikes" cost over millions of dollars to the state , and may commuters suffered .  July's strike, which lasted five days, produced more us-versus-them ugliness.BART and its two largest unions dragged on for six months — a period that saw two chaotic days long strikes, including one in July, contentious negotiations and frazzled commuters wondering if they would wake up to find the trains running or not. This last strike was pitiful . It shows how a Union should be . Powerful enough to stop everything . In the long run it made the BART unions look like a "unsympathetic" ass. I have to say I see the need for a salary  $60k / year average salary for a BART worker?- cost of living , perhaps issues of sick leave for bargaining .There were very vague, general numbers (salary, benefits) given, and vague summaries of the issues, from the news reporters.  The power of going to strike like the power of veto has it's consequences . The strike had been prompted in large part by management's desire to be able to set aside existing work rules, which workers said would compromise safety. Those safety concerns were reinforced in one of the worst possible ways Saturday when a train struck and killed two workers inspecting tracks. Monday night the National Transportation Safety Board announced that the train had been driven by what they termed an "operator trainee"—a scab, in other words. That foregrounded workers' safety concerns in general and certainly concerns over management's plans to use scabs if the strike dragged on. In the tentative deal, the unions reportedly made concessions on rules involving technology, which BART management had made much of even while poo-pooing safety concerns. Two men may have died because skilled workers were on strike, or perhaps it could have happened on another regular day. Its shameful to use these deaths to strengthen the union argument.