Alex Mousouris/Staff

A BART strike has once again been averted — this time until Oct. 10 — following a court-ordered cooling-off period requested by Gov. Jerry Brown and granted Sunday.

The order, given by a San Francisco Superior Court judge, will last 60 days and is intended to alleviate some of the pressure that has characterized negotiations between BART workers and administrators in recent weeks.

The order states that BART unions are now forbidden from striking because a strike, or even the threat of a strike, poses public health and safety risks.

BART unions and administrators are expected to continue negotiations during the cooling-off period in hopes that a contract can be settled before the period expires. If the Oct. 10 deadline passes, BART unions will be authorized to strike, as the governor can only call for one cooling-off period.

“BART is grateful San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow has granted Governor Brown’s request for a 60 day cooling off period, ensuring BART trains will continue to run while the District seeks fair and financially sustainable contract agreements with its unions,” said BART spokesperson Rick Rice in a statement.

The injunction follows a seven-day cooling-off period ordered by Brown last Sunday while an appointed board investigated the facts and positions of parties in the dispute.

The board’s report, published Saturday, found that a strike by BART workers — like the four-day strike in July — would cause “significant harm to the public’s health, safety, and welfare.”

“Were the unions to strike at the end of the 7-day cooling off period, the resulting increased congestion would result in an increase in traffic accidents,” the report states. “It would also result in slower response times by emergency personnel responding to those accidents, as well as other public emergencies.”

The report also notes that the parties involved in the dispute are still far from an agreement.

“The parties do not agree on the magnitude of the gap in their respective economic proposals,” the report states. “Other specific unresolved issues are the unions’ proposals for increased workplace safety measures and BART’s proposals for increased rights regarding workforce management.”

Jacob Brown is a news editor. Contact him at jbrown@dailycal.org.

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Sureya Melkonian/Staff

High school students, teachers and administrators from eight cities gathered at UC Berkeley’s Alumni House last week for a three-day national summit for Y-PLAN, an initiative that invites youth to engage in city planning for struggling neighborhoods.

Participants from high schools in areas ranging from Richmond, Calif., to Tohoku, Japan shared their community projects with each other before working on the redevelopment of Telegraph Avenue. The event culminated in participants presenting their ideas to a panel of judges, including a representative from Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates’ office, UC Berkeley professor emeritus David Stern and Moe’s Bookstore owner Doris Moskowitz.

Deborah McKoy, director of the UC Berkeley Center for Cities and Schools, first created Y-PLAN as part of her dissertation when she completed her doctorate in educational policy at UC Berkeley. Y-PLAN stands for “Youth – Plan, Learn, Act, Now!” and is a five-step program that gives youth the opportunity to collaborate with each other and educators to present ideas for change to city officials.

“I was frustrated because we do so many school reforms that are great for adults but don’t make learning particularly relevant for kids,” McKoy said. “Y-PLAN is really about getting young people at the planning and policymaking table.”

Recent Richmond High School graduates Melissa Avalos and Jose Castillo presented ideas to integrate the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory campus into the Richmond Bay neighborhood as part of their high school senior project. Avalos introduced a farmers market to help diversify the community around the new Berkeley Lab campus, and Castillo worked on ways to make transportation efficient around the campus.

On Friday’s summit meeting, participants used Berkeley’s Telegraph Avenue as a case study of an area that could benefit from redevelopment.

After a 45-minute visit to Telegraph and a 15-minute brainstorming session, small groups presented their findings to a panel of judges.

Some ideas that came out from the workshop included replacing the street’s uneven pavement with cobblestones, closing it to traffic during the weekends for festivities and replacing empty storefronts with artwork representative of Berkeley’s history.

Moskowitz said she was excited to see some of the ideas applied to Telegraph, which, in recent years has seen some of its businesses struggle financially.

“If teenagers really cared about this street, it could come back in a minute,” Moskowitz said.

Moskowitz said the ideas were judged not solely on their feasibility but also on the innovation and dedication behind them. All suggestions for Telegraph Avenue redevelopment will be sent to the mayor’s office for consideration.

“We’re incredibly grateful for all of the ideas and the time that the youths have provided to us,” said Sbeydeh Viveros-Banderas, senior aide to the mayor.

Contact Lydia Tuan at ltuan@dailycal.org.

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Brian Ly/Staff

Dojo Dog, one of the three food trucks forced to vacate their operations at the intersection of Bancroft Way and Telegraph Avenue last December because of construction on campus, opened at a new location at Bancroft Way and College Avenue Thursday.

Dojo Dog owners Michael Koh, a UC Berkeley alumnus,  and Jason Chou said they felt comfortable opening at the new location following a July 24 report by the Berkeley city manager stating that all three vendors may reapply for permits for their original locations once construction concludes.

“Just having that chance, instead of being shut out completely, we felt like we got what we wanted, so we just thought we would open up,” Chou said.

Although the report says that all three vendors can reapply for their old locations, it states that reconstruction of the MLK Jr. Student Union and the AC Transit stop at the intersection will cause major changes to pedestrian traffic, requiring city staff members to re-evaluate the area before they make any final food truck decisions.

Dojo Dog has also lowered its prices since moving, but Chou said that was something they were planning on doing prior to being shut down.

“Definitely, being shut down impacted us negatively, with eight months of having to still pay a bulk of our costs just to stay legal,” Chou said. “We still had to pay a commissary fee, we still had to pay insurance, we had to throw out all our inventory.”

Chou said that while the new location does not seem to have as much foot traffic as the old location, he is excited for the school year to begin and more people to be on campus so they can enjoy delicious food at a fair price.

“We got into this business because we love this community, and a lot of our staff are part of this school community in particular,” Chou said. “We wanted to start this kind of a food truck because we thought it was something that would bring a lot of joy to people.”

Contact Chase Schweitzer at cschweitzer@dailycal.org and follow him on Twitter @ChaseSchweitz.

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Nathaniel Solley/Staff

About a dozen protesters continue to occupy the steps and facade of the Berkeley post office despite ongoing requests from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to move off of the post office’s property.

Protesters have been occupying the space for nearly two weeks in a last-ditch effort to prevent the sale of the post office to private developers. The investigators, federal agents dedicated to enforcing Postal Service regulation, warned protesters verbally and provided them with the service’s rules governing conduct on Postal Service property on Friday. Agents have not attempted to forcefully remove the protesters but continue to monitor the scene.

Currently, the protest is being held by four or five activists handing out pamphlets and talking to passers-by as well as a few loiterers who say they will remain despite the threat of law enforcement.

“They’ve threatened to remove us, but we’re still holding our positions and staying there around the clock,” said Mike Wilson of Strike Debt Bay Area, an advocacy group that is organizing the protest.

Augustine Ruiz, a regional Postal Service spokesperson, said that he was concerned that the protest was impeding customers from entering and exiting the facility safely and expressed further concern regarding reported vandalism. Ruiz said that the Postal Service would enforce safety regulation but not stop the protest itself.

“There’s nothing wrong with public congregation, and there’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing, as long as they’re doing it peacefully,” Ruiz said. “We’re not arguing the fact that they have a right to do what they’re doing — we’re saying there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it.”

William Rogers, acting city manager for the city of Berkeley, wrote in a memo on Saturday that Berkeley Police Department will not intervene unless a threat to public safety arises during enforcement action by Postal Service police.

A rally is planned for Saturday, when protesters will march between FedEx, UPS and UC Berkeley’s Blum Center, demonstrating against companies and individuals who are involved in the sale. Protesters cite FedEx and UPS as prospective buyers and allege that Richard Blum — who is chair of the board of CBRE, the corporate real estate company brokering the sale — could make a personal profit if the post office is sold.

Contact Simon Greenhill at sgreenhill@dailycal.org and follow him on Twitter @simondgreenhill.

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Anthony Bongco/File

An AC Transit workers’ union and the AC Transit board came to a three-year contract agreement late Tuesday evening, about an hour before the union had threatened to go on strike.

After working for several months, the union’s negotiations committee reached a tentative agreement with the AC Transit Board that saved about 181,000 daily riders from having to find alternative modes of transportation. Negotiations resolved disagreements over health care premiums and salary increases that required financial compromises from both parties.

“I wanted a contract that was fair to the ATU workers,” said Sharon Cornu, a spokesperson for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192. “I think this contract reflects that.”

The agreement settled on a 9.5 percent wage increase for workers over the next three years. Originally, employees sought a 9.75 percent increase, and the transit agency was offering 9 percent.

“Wages have not kept up with the cost of living in the Bay Area,” said Yvonne Williams, president of ATU Local 192. “We’ve been behind for quite a while. But it’s an improvement, and we do need that improvement.”

In the last year of the previous contract, which expired June 30, workers had to allocate 3 percent of their salaries toward health care. Now, workers will pay the monthly flat rates of $70, $140 and $180 for the next three years, respectively. The union originally wanted $135 for the second year, and the board asked for $145.

Although the union had received previous salary increases, the money was allocated toward health care. However, there will now be in a net increase even after part of workers’ salaries is spent on health care.

Despite the agreements over health care and salaries, Cornu and several AC Transit bus drivers said that the lack of scheduled restroom and lunch breaks needs to be addressed.

“It’s probably the No. 1 safety issue,” said Drayland Davis, who has been an AC Transit bus driver for the past 15 years. “You try to run to the bathroom, and that’s only if you reach the end of your route early.”

According to Williams, the issue will be on the directors’ agenda next meeting.

Just last Sunday, Gov. Jerry Brown intervened to prevent another BART strike with a seven-day injunction against work stoppage. This incident, in conjunction with the BART strike on July 1, has made many Bay Area riders uncertain about finding transportation in the past month.

“We did not take the possibility of withholding service from public lightly,” Williams said. “That was more stressful than the negotiations process.”

The agreement will be presented to union members shortly, with a simple majority vote needed for ratification.

“I was quite pleased with the fact that this thing went with a whole of respect and relatively very little anger,” said Christian Peeples, who is on the AC Transit Board.

Contact Mary Zhou at mzhou@dailycal.org

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Alex Mousouris/Staff

An AC Transit strike has been averted following a tentative agreement between Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192 and AC Transit just an hour before workers threatened to strike.

The agreement will prevent AC Transit’s 181,000 daily riders from having to find alternative methods of transportation.

The new agreement allows a wage increase of 9.5 percent over the next three years and monthly health care contributions of $70, $140 and $180, respectively, for each of the three years.

“This was a long and often intense negotiation, and there are no winners or losers in its outcome,” said AC Transit general manager David Armijo in a press release. “We are happy we were able to get through process without any disruption in service. Clearly, both sides focused on what was best for the riders and taxpayers of this district and what is in the long-term interest of maintaining public transit for the communities we serve.”

The union, which represents 1,800 bus drivers and mechanics, had threatened to strike on Monday amid ongoing negotiations.

All services will continue running on their normal schedule.

More updates to follow.

Andrea Guzman is a news editor. Contact her at aguzman@dailycal.org

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ATU Local 192, which represents 1,800 bus drivers and mechanics, gave notice on Monday of its intention to strike, which could leave AC Transit’s 181,000 daily riders without transportation. Employees’ contracts expired in late June, and negotiations have been ongoing for several weeks.

According to Clarence Johnson, manager of media affairs at AC Transit, both parties have been working to come to a solution and avoid service interruption. As the third-largest public bus system in California, an AC Transit strike is expected to cause much disruption as the BART strike last month did.

“Regrettably, our contingency plan involves simply no service,” Johnson said. “We cannot operate without drivers.”

Wage increases and contributions to health care have proved to be major issues in the negotiations. ATU members currently do not contribute to health coverage costs.

“We’re more than willing to pay,” said Yvonne Williams, president of ATU Local 192. “But we need a flat rate rather than a percentage, since we can’t control what that might escalate to.”

According to Johnson, the district wants ATU employees to contribute 10 percent of the cost of the monthly premiums, which would equal approximately $120 per pay period. The union’s flat rate would equal about $80 per pay period.

In a press conference on Tuesday morning, Johnson said that he is optimistic about preventing a strike, given the steady progress that has been made thus far.

“We started this weekend at $9 million dollars apart,” Johnson said. “We’re now only about $4 million apart as of last night. We are 1 percentage point apart in our wage proposals. We’re offering 9 percent; the union is seeking 10 percent. We’re moving in the right direction.”

According to Williams, however, the negotiations have been a “difficult process.” Although the union wishes to avoid a strike, it remains a possible outcome.

“Our goal is to avert a strike,” Williams said. “But we’re still intending to strike if we do not reach a collective bargaining agreement for our members for ratification.”

Contact Somin Park at sominpark@dailycal.org.

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Evan Walbridge/File

A union representing about 1,800 AC Transit workers plans to strike as early as Wednesday at 12:01 a.m.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192, which represents mechanics, dispatchers and clerical workers at AC Transit, plans to give notice of a strike to the AC Transit board of directors on Wednesday if no further progress is made on reaching a contract agreement.

A previous AC Transit worker contract expired on June 31. A strike could disrupt as many as 200,000 daily AC Transit passengers.

“Management has failed to meet its legal responsibility to bargain in good faith,” said ATU Local 192 President Yvonne Williams in a press release. ”Substantial health and safety issues, including meal and rest periods, and fundamental human rights are at stake.”

ATU Local 192 has cited problems with worker safety during negotiations, saying the rate of injury among AC Transit workers has increased in recent years. Last Wednesday, an AC Transit bus caught fire on I-880 south.

AC Transit unions previously threatened to strike at the end of June, when BART workers were preparing to strike. However, AC Transit administration and unions “agreed to disagree” while continuing negotiations and averted a strike.

Jacob Brown is a news editor. Contact him at jbrown@dailycal.org.

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At the request of BART administration, Brown appointed the three-person board, saying in a statement that a strike would “significantly disrupt public transportation services and will endanger the public’s health, safety, and welfare.” State law forbids any strike or lockout while the board finishes its investigation.

The board’s investigation will include the facts of the dispute and the respective positions of the parties but will not contain recommendations. The report will be made available to the public.

”The board is directed to provide me with a written report within the next seven days,” Brown said in the statement. “For the sake of the people of the Bay Area, I urge — in the strongest terms possible — the parties to meet quickly and as long as necessary to get this dispute resolved.”

The planned strike would have been the second this summer, following the expiration of a 30-day temporary agreement after July’s five-day strike. On Thursday, BART unions gave 72-hour notice of a strike that would begin Monday morning if a contract agreement was not reached between BART and BART unions Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555.

In July, negotiations focused on wage increases for BART workers and the ability to pay into their own pensions. The unions have also requested better security to protect themselves from violence on the job and general improvements such as better lighting on the tracks.

BART leaders said they opposed a strike, saying it unnecessarily harmed passengers.

“As we saw in early July, the effect of a public transit strike is a complete disruption of the Bay Area economy,” said BART President Tom Radulovich in a letter to Brown asking for a cooling-off period. “We believe the public should not be deprived of this essential public service unless all alternatives to prevent a work stoppage have been utilized.”

But union leaders, such as Pete Castelli, executive director of SEIU 1021, said that although BART employees and administration share the common goal of avoiding a strike, he is dissatisfied with BART’s management of the negotiations — especially the administration’s choice to hire Thomas Hock, a $400,000 outside consultant.

Hock left negotiations earlier this month to go on vacation and has only recently returned.

Union negotiators were informed of Hock’s availability ahead of negotiations, said BART spokesperson Rick Rice.

“Mr. Hock is an experienced negotiator, and the district has faith that he’ll get us through to a good contract this time,” he said.

Contact Jacob Brown and Madeleine Pauker at newsdesk@dailycal.org.

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Stefan Elgstrand/Courtesy

After two years of planning, some students are raising concerns about the ASUC-sponsored Berkeley redistricting map because the proposed student district excludes Northside residences, including nine Berkeley student housing cooperatives and three residence halls.

Stefan Elgstrand, a UC Berkeley senior and an intern for Councilmember Kriss Worthington since June, has introduced the United Student District Amendment, a proposal that includes Northside residences.

While both the ASUC map and the USDA aim to create a student-majority district to help elect a student representative to Berkeley City Council, proponents of each disagree on how to best represent interests of students and city residents.

Currently, Elgstrand is rallying support for his amendment prior to the City Council meeting on Sept. 10, when the council will continue discussing redistricting.

The ASUC-sponsored Berkeley Student District Campaign map started as a campaign platform for 2011-12 ASUC external affairs vice president Joey Freeman, a Student Action candidate.

The BSDC map creates a student district that encompasses Southside housing, the Greek community and the residence halls, with a 90 percent student population. The map is detailed in ASUC Senate Bill 65, which passed unanimously in the spring of 2013.

“The fact that this (amendment) was introduced so late is really difficult to deal with,” said ASUC External Affairs Vice President Safeena Mecklai of the proposed amendment, which she said the ASUC team has not agreed to. “I wouldn’t be comfortable with it going forward unless the senate endorses it.”

After the BSDC map was submitted in mid-March, Worthington questioned its inclusivity and motivated Elgstrand to draft an amendment.

“The BSDC people mostly live in the fraternities and sororities, so there’s a bit of a bias in that,” Elgstrand said. “From my perspective, since I’m not connected to any of those groups, I can make it more inclusive.”

Proponents say the BSDC map has received support from the Greek community, Cal Berkeley Democrats, Berkeley College Republicans, all 20 ASUC 2012-13 senators and some leaders of the Berkeley Student Cooperative, including ASUC Senator Jorge Pacheco, who is endorsed by the co-ops.

Now, other leaders in the BSC are reconsidering their stances, saying that the BSDC map underrepresents Northside housing. They are giving preference to the USDA proposal, which Elgstrand says includes 87.4 percent of the cooperative population, while the BSDC map only includes 38.1 percent.

“If the intention is to create a unified student district, then not including Northside dorms and co-ops seems to leave out an important population of students,” said Michelle Nacouzi, the 2013-14 president of the BSC.

Nacouzi and other members of the BSC said they were told that it was not feasible to include Northside co-ops in a student-majority district.

Noah Efron, the ASUC redistricting director and local affairs deputy, said the BSDC made several efforts to include the input of student groups by inviting leaders from the BSC, the Greek community and the residence halls to participate in public forums about the plan.

Despite their differences, both Elgstrand and Mecklai said they would prefer to maintain a unified student voice in demanding a student district. However, the ASUC will continue to support the BSDC map without changes to include Northside residences, while Elgstrand plans to push forward his amended plan.

Contact Saachi Makkar at smakkar@dailycal.org.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article stated that the district proposed by the ASUC represents 90 percent of the student population, defined as residents between ages 18 to 29. In fact, it represents 86 percent of the student population.

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