The compulsory-unionism state of California exposes problems with union bosses having more power and influence than California residents.
With the possibility of a second BART strike a day away, talks between the transit agency and its labor unions continued under a media blackout that provides few, if any, hints of progress or gridlock at the bargaining table.
After bargaining past 10 p.m. on Tuesday, negotiators for BART and its two largest unions – Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 – returned to negotiations at the Caltrans building in downtown Oakland at 9:30 a.m. Members of bargaining teams emerged for brief breaks but had little to say other than that they were making slow progress. But whether it’s enough to keep BART from shutting down, nobody knows.