SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Bay Area Rapid Transit workers are set to walk off the job July 6 if they cannot agree with management on a new contract.þþUnion leaders announced the strike deadline Tuesday night after a hearing of four Bay Area county labor councils to consider whether to sanction a BART strike.þþ''Our strike captains are ready, our picket signs are ready and our members are ready to walk off the job,'' said Josie Mooney, executive director of Service Employees International Union 790, which represents about 1,450 of BART's 2,700 union workers.þþThe labor councils from Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco and San Mateo counties are expected to formally endorse the strike this week. Union workers already have voted to authorize the strike. The contract expires at 12:01 a.m. Friday.þþThe last time BART workers went on strike was in 1997, when the six-day walkout led to traffic headaches throughout the region. According to the agency's Web site, more than 300,000 trips are taken on BART in an average weekday.þþBART, which faces a $23.9 million deficit next year, has already raised fares and approved the elimination of 115 jobs.þþBART officials declined to discuss the specifics of their proposal but General Manager Tom Margro said the district must solve the problem of a $100 million projected deficit over the next four years.þþChris Finn, a train operator who is part of the Amalgamated Transit Union 1555, which represents nearly 800 employees, said the strike date was chosen so that a work stoppage wouldn't impact the holiday weekend.þþ
Source: NY Times
