By Bay City News
BART directors voted 8-1 Thursday morning to approve a contract without a controversial family leave provision. This leaves the unions with the choice of ratifying the modified contract, returning to the bargaining table, or striking.
Union members approved the agreement several weeks ago, but BART management said last week that they had belatedly discovered that the contract includes a provision that, for the first time, offers paid family medical leave for employees.
BART officials said they didn't intend to have that provision in the contract, and that it was inadvertently included by a temporary employee. Employees currently use vacation or sick time, or floating holidays, to take time off when family members have medical issues.
BART officials estimate that including the paid family medical leave provision could add up to $44 million in costs over the length of the four-year agreement. Union leaders estimate that it would only cost about $5 to $6 million.
Before the board voted, Josie Mooney, a lead negotiator for Service Employees International Union Local 1021, told board members, "I'm asking you to authorize the agreement," saying that the inclusion of the paid family leave section "was not an accident."
After the vote, BART Board President Tom Radulovich issued the following statement:
“Today the BART Board of Directors voted 8 to 1 to accept the $67 million offer that was agreed to at the bargaining table with our unions. We hope the unions will take the agreement minus the six weeks of additional paid leave that was mistakenly included in the final document, back to their members.
Simply put, the district cannot afford to give its employees another six weeks of paid leave, on top of the generous leave already allowed in the BART employee benefit package."
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