San Francisco BART Rapid Transit Strike Continues

• AP Photo/The Contra Costa Times, Dan Rosenstrauch
• Commuters work their way down California Boulevard to a line of buses waiting to take them to San Francisco on the second day of the BART strike in Walnut Creek, Calif., on Tuesday, July 2, 2013.

Bay Area transit officials warned commuters late Wednesday to make alternate transit plans on the July Fourth holiday as rail workers are expected to continue their strike.

BART said there was no indication that its two largest labor unions would return to work Thursday.

Negotiators and both sides were still working late into the evening Wednesday after beginning talks about 1 p.m.

Key issues involve salaries, pensions, health care and safety.

The strike is in its third day. Heavy morning rush-hour traffic lightened considerably by midday as the holiday approached.

Josie Mooney, a chief negotiator with Service Employees International Union Local 1021, said she was hopeful the latest round of talks could end the three-day strike that has slowed commutes across the San Francisco Bay Area.

Mooney appeared optimistic after an overnight bargaining session Tuesday that lasted nearly nine hours.

"We made some progress. We've worked very hard," Mooney said. She declined further comment, saying a mediator had asked the parties not to speak to the media.

Key issues in the labor dispute involving the nation's fifth-largest rail system include salaries, pensions, health care and safety.

More - Link >>> http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/no-deal-reached-in-bart-transit-talks/Content?oid=2496873

Sources: San Francisco Examiner, Associated Press News Wire Service.

More on San Francisco's two rapid transit systems --
Bay Area Rapid Transit: Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BART
San Francisco Municipal Railway:
Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Municipal_Railway

Want to receive SpaceWatchtower blog posts daily in your inbox ?
Send request to < spacewatchtower@planetarium.cc >.

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
About the Editor/Author: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#GAW >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Twitter: < https://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
Facebook: < http://www.facebook.com/pages/SpaceWatchtower/238017839577841?sk=wall >
Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >