San Francisco Transit Workers Go on Strike

Get used to riding in your cars, San Francisco commuters—the BART railway won’t be running. The BART union officially went on strike on Monday, shutting down the railway at 2 a.m. PST and instead reporting to picket. “There are times when you have to make a statement, and that’s what we’re doing now,” said Des Patten, the president of the BART professional chapter of the SEIU. While BART officials are offering a 2 percent raise, the union claims that the raise is contingent on ridership increases, sales-tax revenues, and reductions in employees taking time allowed by the Family Medical Leave Act. To deal with the railway shutdown, the San Francisco Bay Area ferry will add boats from East Bay, and AC Transit will run extra buses.