Tensions Simmer, Talks Drag On in BART Strike

OAKLAND — On strike, shut down and widely criticized, Bay Area Rapid Transit celebrated its 25th birthday Thursday with more negotiations aimed at ending a five-day walkout that has paralyzed commuter traffic.

Unions and management met with state mediators again Thursday only hours after the Wednesday session ended in acrimonious charges and countercharges. No one appeared eager to celebrate the anniversary of BART’s inaugural service.

“I doubt the tensions have eased any,” mediator John McGee said. “This is the fifth day they’re on strike. People aren’t getting paid.”

Daniel Beagle, a spokesman for Service Employees International Union, Local 790, acknowledged the obvious--that the 2,600 striking BART employees are taking the public relations hit from the walkout.

“We know that the public’s not happy, and we know that we are out there, and we are the most visible symbols to the public of why they’re unhappy,” he said.

That unhappiness is reflected in the streets, on buses, in carpool lanes and even online. In an America Online strike chat room, one entry suggested throwing fruit at picketers.

Responded another, “I wouldn’t want to get myself into trouble by pelting them with the garbage they so richly deserve, but I have made a point of displaying my middle finger to these creeps and expressing my hope that they all lose their jobs soon.”