ASSEMBLY//BART STRIKE | East Bay Assemblymembers Rob Bonta, Nancy Skinner and Bill Quirk were critical of BART management for misstating the true average wages of train operators and station agents.
During testimony Wednesday before the Board of Inquiry ordered by Gov. Jerry Brown to convene, BART management revealed the often quoted $79,000 average pay actually includes management’s wages. The figure is actually $63,000 and $64,000, according to BART.
“We’re pleased today’s meeting redirected focus on the ultimate goal of finalizing a fair contract that continues to ensure a safe, dependable public transit system,” said the lawmakers, in a joint statement. “The panel asked important questions, obtaining documents and testimony that revealed the true financial picture of BART, the actual wages workers earn, and the significant safety issues confronted by employees every day.”
Over past few months, the veracity of the higher wage figures were disputed by members of the two labor unions representing workers. Nonetheless, they were reported often by many local news outlets.
The Board of Inquiry is expected to release a report on Friday. There is a possibility the three-member board could recommend for a 60-day cooling off period while employees continue to work without a new contract.
ebcitizen.com 
It's time to stop management's lies–thank you Bonta, Skinner and Quirk.
During testimony Wednesday before the Board of Inquiry ordered by Gov. Jerry Brown to convene, BART management revealed the often quoted $79,000 average pay actually includes management's wages. The figure is actually $63,000 and $64,000, according to BART.
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What a dictator.
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Anon above you are a mega-management whore.
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Written like a true dictator!
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Anon above get off the citizen–no one cares what you think!
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John Q. Public gets it.
You mega-union whores losers are so far back in the rear-view mirror that all I have left for you is pity, and even that's fleeting.
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John Q. Public is really an anti-union Troll and a management whore! He tries to dominate the Citizen on article after article with the same tired B.S.
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The lies are all in your mind.
Real world gets it.
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7:09, BART actually lied even more than that. They claimed the holdout rank-and-filers are paid an average of $79,000, so their lie overstated their compensation by about $15,000 a year. Their lie was revealed during last week's hearing; the Sunday after the revelations, the BANG newspapers (Oakland Tribune, Hayward Daily Review, etc.) published a guest editorial which claimed the union workers make an average of $80,000 a year. So, the BANG papers are willful liars who wish to directly and intentionally misreport the news. They are the direct enemies of the public.
John Q. Public, you sure as hell don't represent this member of the public. Question for you: if BART management were in the right, why did they feel the need to lie in public about the compensation levels of their workers?
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See here we go. People hearing & reading one thing and turning it into something different. Where did you get 26%? I believe it was actually 23%. And however you want to turn it or twist it, the panel reviewed all of BART's reports and testimony and came to find that the workers on average made $63,000 not the $71,000 that BART STATED. Therefore, BART OVERstated the workers wages. Nobody said anything about what was asked for as far as the wage increase went. Although you over stated that number yourself…lol. And the reason lunch time is paid inside those hrs is because the workers have to be available, on-call, from the time they punch in til the time they punch out. Other jobs, lunch time is your time. At BART, it's not, it's BART's time. If they call for you, you must be available.
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As long as we're talking about fair statements about base salaries, how about letting the public know about true days and hours worked.
What about the 37.5 hour work week? Working 40 but getting your lunch time paid inside those hours.
Right there you have to add on 6.7% at 1.5 times the wage to give a true picture of a comparable wage. $64,000 becomes over $70,000 by a fair comparison
So in effect we have workers who really get 2.5 hours of overtime when they simply work a 40 hour week.
Throw in the overly generous vacation time (on a comparative basis), sick days, holidays, and so forth.
Now compare that adjusted wage for normal base hour salary with the normal work world.
Then throwing in nearly free medical, dental, vision a ZERO contribution pension plan.
Don't hear the union demanding all those details be released.
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I said it was coming and a certain union whore told me not so. Well, friends, sadly, I am right.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/State-Senator-in-Favor-of-Making-BART-Strikes-Illegal-218448411.html
While it won't happen in time for this coming strike, the BART EXEMPT express is due to roll down the tracks in short order. Our friend Mark DeSaulier, state senator from Concord, is working toward introducing legislation to make mass transit strikes illegal. The public has spoken, and he gets it.
This will be both the wave and way of the future. Never again will the masses be held hostage to the whims of the union whores. Their day of reckoning has come, and the true and only winners will be the public. You can only cry wolf so many times before you are cut off at the balls, et al!
Viva la publica!
John Q. Public, the public's official representative
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Fair and reasonable to whom, 10:19? How about fair and reasonable to the workers who are earning the wages.
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At least Bonta has nice hair
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There was no overstatement by BART.
Employees want a 26% raise! WTF?
I don't think so.
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You sign up on the BART.GOV website just like the current workers did. The recruitment for Train Operator was held last summer and was open to all that qualified. They took 3000 applications. I'm sure once a contract is finalized there will be another recruitment. Keep checking the website. But why are the panel members “idiots” because they revealed that BART over stated the workers wages?
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I have been unemployed for a long time and I will work for half the amount of the political trio findings. My unemployment benefits ran out last month. I will be even more ecstatically happy with to work for 63k a year for BART. Where do I sign up?
Bonta Quirk Skinner you are all idiots.
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'SF Chronicle poll'–8-8-13
Should BART unions be allowed to strike?
Yes, transit workers should have the same rights as other union workers
672 ( 17.8% )
No, strikes by Muni and city firefighter unions are banned — BART should be too
2190 ( 57.9% )
Yes, it’s the best leverage labor has in negotiations
264 ( 7.0% )
No, denying transit services is akin to taking hostages
657 ( 17.4% )
And loving it!!!
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A fair contract? What would that look like? Show a formula that insures fairness. In the same light, show me what a reasonable wage is. Fair and reasonable to whom?
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