BART workers left thousands of commuters in the dark Wednesday under a strike threat as marathon negotiations continued between management and two of its largest unions.
Unlike prior days, unions promised to let the public know whether workers would be on the job Thursday before 10 p.m., reports NBC Bay Area. Because contract talks have been going late into the night in recent days, many commuters have had to go to bed without knowing whether there will be BART service the next morning. For example, Monday night, unions did not announce their decision concerning going on a strike Tuesday until after 1 a.m.
For BART, Thursday would mark 200 days since negotiations opened. Josie Mooney, chief negotiator for the local Service Employees International Union, said unions sympathized with the uncertainty riders feel every evening, but that they must keep a strike threat on the table to ensure BART management negotiates fairly.
"We have to put some pressure on them," she said, according to Mercury News.
Meanwhile, Gov. Jerry Brown stepped in to avert an AC Transit bus strike that had been set for Thursday. As he did with the BART talks in August, Brown declared a seven-day bus strike delay and could later use his powers to postpone any AC Transit shutdowns for another two months.
First, Brown will form a panel to investigate the talks during the next seven days. Then, he could petition a judge to declare a 60-day cooling-off period. In the meantime, all AC Transit strikes would be barred.
He also announced on Wednesday that he would invoke a law that allows him to delay transit strikes for up to 67 days.
"We are very relieved, especially for the 30,000 school children we carry that would have had a very difficult time finding an alternative way to get to school," said AC Transit spokesman Clarence Johnson, adding that he hoped the delay would buy negotiators enough time to reach a contract agreement.