BART Strike 2013 News Update: Workers Get 15.4% Pay Raise, Higher Benefit Costs in New Contract Agreement

The four-day BART strike that stymied hundreds of thousands of commuters in the San Francisco Bay Area came to an end Monday night after BART management and union workers finally reached an agreement. In the tentative contract, unions won a 15 percent raise over four years, while management scored key reforms to begin controlling medical and pension costs.

Details of the contract have yet to be made public because the two sides are still double-checking the wording before presenting the deal to union members for a vote. However, a person with direct knowledge of the deal told the Associated Press that workers would get paid 15.4 percent more by the time the agreement ends in 2017. That's more than the 12 percent raise BART presented as its best and final offer before the strike.

According to the San Francisco Mercury News, union workers currently earn $76,500 in annual gross pay, including overtime. The pay increase would push the average to $88,300 by 2017, however, new rules will make it tougher to earn larger overtime checks.

Chris Daly, the political director for the Service Employees International Union local 1021 confirmed the basic salary, health care and pension changes. However, he disputed the suggestion that workers would be earning 15.4 percent more when the new contract expires, arguing that the higher costs for health care and pensions make the take-home increase more like 2 or 3 percent over each of the four years.

The deal also requires employees to contribute more toward their benefits. Monthly health insurance premiums would increase from $92 to $129. And, for the first time, workers would have to contribute to their state pensions.

Union negotiators agreed to make it easier for BART to introduce technology into work routines. BART originally wanted to be able to change work schedules with greater ease while the unions wanted to preserve schedules such as a four-day, 10-hour week. Other proposed changes would have affected the handling of worker claims of discrimination or harassment by managers.

The transit agency also agreed to implement better lighting in stations and tunnels, to cut overgrown vegetation near tracks and to the possibility of reopening bathrooms at several stations.

The unions initially asked for 23.2 percent in raises over three years. BART offered a four-year contract with 1 percent raises contingent on the agency meeting economic goals.

Both unions still must vote to ratify the contract, which will not happen before next week.