BART trains will continue to run on Tuesday across the Bay Area, but there’s still no deal in the six-month-long labor contract negotiations. For the third time in less than a week, BART’s unions have put off a strike to stay at the bargaining table.
An hour after the strike deadline passed early Tuesday around 1 AM, federal mediator George Cohen told reporters the two sides were making progress.
“They are prepared to continue negotiating through the night at the request of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service,” Cohen said. “And because of all of our concern about the public interest, I’m authorized to announce that trains will run tomorrow."
The announcement came just hours after the unions handed over a counter-proposal to BART’s “last and best offer.” A rep from SEIU 1021—BART’s biggest union—said that offer showed movement.
The unions had held off strikes on Friday and Monday to continue negotiating, even after BART laid down their final offer. That offer included a 12 percent raise over four years, and increased health care and pension payments.
There’s no word from the unions on how long this delay might last.
Since June, the Bay Area has been through six BART strike deadlines and one strike. That strike was in July, and left more than 200,000 riders scrambling for an alternative.
Isabel Angell is KALW’s transportation reporter. You can find her work and more stories at transportationnation.org.
