Maura Chen/Staff

Contact Maura Chen at mchen@dailycal.org.

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UC student regents are supposed to represent all UC students. Sadia Saifuddin’s leading role in the UC-wide anti-Israel divestment movement calls into question her willingness to represent the Jewish community — its extreme left excepted.

In pushing for divestment from the Middle East’s sole liberal democracy, she proved herself part of a radical passel of sanctimonious students whose pursuit of a narrow agenda knows no bounds of reason, propriety or honesty. She pursued the agenda of the Muslim community to the derogation of the Jewish community, and many Jewish students are anxious about what she will do next year.

Saifuddin’s record on free speech is also poor. Her sponsorship of SB 114, censuring professor Tammi Rossman-Benjamin of UC Santa Cruz (who had remarked on the worrying prevalence of anti-Semitism among Muslims in the UC system), was startlingly intolerant of Benjamin’s free speech rights.

Amid the invective directed against her during her confirmation process, there was substantial truth. We can only hope that Saifuddin will make her year as the first Muslim-American UC student regent a positive milestone — for which there is tremendous potential. If she uses her position to bring Muslim and Jewish students together and stands up for free campus dialogue, her tenure can fulfill that potential. We hope it does.

— Ariel Fridman,

UC Berkeley junior

Having the right to smoke

I am a nonsmoker and a proponent of healthy lifestyles, but I disagree with the Draft Tobacco-Free Campus Policy at UC Berkeley which states that there is no safe level of second-hand smoke.

The U.S. Surgeon General and the campus policy claim that “there is no safe level of secondhand smoke.” That is an unfounded claim and probably a false one when you consider infinitesimal quantities. Second, the policy prohibits tobacco products that affect only the user, including smokeless tobacco and electronic cigarettes.

I believe that people should be free to do what they want, especially if it does not directly harm someone else.

Also, I’d prefer that UC Berkeley spend its resources on education rather than on the enforcement of this policy.

—Jeffrey Yunes

Bioengineering doctoral student

Contact the opinion desk at opinion@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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Alex Mousouris/Staff

BART unions gave 72-hour notice of a strike Thursday night that will begin Monday morning if an agreement is not reached between BART employees and administration.

The 30-day contract extension between labor unions Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, established after the July strike, will expire Sunday night and may lead to another strike if negotiations before then are unsuccessful.

“We are very disappointed and hope they reconsider their options,” said BART spokesperson Rick Rice in a press release Thursday. “A strike only stalls and delays the decisions that need to be made while using our riders as pawns.”

In an interview Thursday, he said that the end of the contract on Sunday does not guarantee a strike.

“We can continue talking Monday,” he said. “There’s really no reason for a strike and no hard, fast rule there has to be a strike. We are hoping to reach an agreement at the table and not throw the Bay Area into chaos again.”

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.

“Frankly, on the big issues, we’ve done very little bargaining, and the blame lies squarely at the feet of the BART administration for allowing this outside consultant to not take it seriously,” Castelli said.

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

“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.

Castelli said that negotiators have not yet reached an agreement that benefits BART workers.

“Right now, a worker that makes $52,000 a year would lose $2,000 if we take the current proposal on the table,” he said. “We haven’t had a raise in four years.”

Contact Madeleine Pauker at mpauker@dailycal.org.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article misspelled Rick Rice’s last name.

The post BART unions give 72-hour notice of strike to begin Monday appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Yi Zhong/Staff

It’s 8 p.m. Sunday night, June 30, 2013.

We just found out that the BART negotiators had no further proposals to present.

Paper in hand, we did the math. The last offer they left on the table meant a cut of more than 12 percent in take pay per year — times four years. This is the offer that we faced after four years of zero wage increases, four years of BART budget surpluses and an increase in ridership of more than 11 percent.

On June 25, the BART unions voted by an overwhelming 98.6 percent to authorize a strike under these conditions.

What were we to do? In addition to the economics, the district rejected the union’s safety proposals (which included safety lighting and reopening the public restrooms in the underground stations), and they also left their draconian management rights proposals on the table (such as invasive sick-leave procedures and unilateral changes to job descriptions).

These negotiations weren’t supposed to happen this way. We did everything that we could to prevent a strike. We got started with the process early. Our researchers began in October 2012 — the bargaining team, back in December. Despite our best efforts, the district stonewalled us and left us with only seven weeks to bargain the contract.

BART’s relationship with its unions has always been contentious. Sixteen years ago, when I began working at BART, I was told, firstly, to save my money, because we were going on strike (the 1997 strike). Then, I was told to keep in mind that the district (management) could never be trusted.

I was advised about how to perform my job within the framework of the BART system. How to get things done by calling on another Union Brother or Sister. They would be the ones to advise me about how to access the stations after dark, how to keep safe (by riding in the first transit vehicle at night), where to park my car, where to get a meal at 2 a.m., which high-rail vehicles I should request in order to perform preventive maintenance safely inside the transbay tube, etc. Most importantly, I was warned to never, never, ever trust that management would be there for me if I got into any trouble.

The BART transit system is the ultimate experiment in collaboration. Every station, every shop and jurisdiction operates as a separate entity and has its own flavor. The unions are the glue that connects this system. Going through the recent media, there is an underlying misconception that the BART system is a well-tuned, high-tech, well-managed transit system. BART promotes a vision that it has a clear understanding of how to get things accomplished, that all systems are lined up for productivity — all they really need is a flexible work force.

In my 25 years prior to coming to BART, I’ve never seen an organization with a more “exactly incompetent” managerial staff. The truth is that they rely heavily on manual procedures, institutional history and the discretionary passion of individual workers. So much of the system has never been documented. Contractors come and go without a trace, leaving regular workers to do forensics and reverse engineering in order to keep the system going.

Back to negotiations. The last few months have been an exercise in futility. This dispute is not about economics; it’s about breaking the unions. The new general manager and the negotiator that she hired for $400,000 has a history in transit labor relations that does not bode well for the unions.

Still, there is purity in the way that they are coming at us. They simply do not care. Our strength is our ability to withhold labor, so they respond by creating an untenable situation,and forcing us out on strike. They know that a successful strike takes planning and organization,and that due to the steady decline of organized labor in the private sector, the pressure will be heavily upon the unions.

The theory is this: If we go out on strike, we will lose money. BART will continue to beat us up in the press in order to break our resolve. When the workers come back, they will be angry.  It is management’s plan that that anger should be directed toward the union. To bolster the plan, they will blatantly violate the contract. They will retaliate and disrespect any union leader who showed any kind of backbone during the strike. They will resolve issues only with sycophants and toadies and will seek to exhaust the union’s resources by tying it up in grievances, arbitrations and court actions.

Brothers and sisters, on midnight of June 30, we, the BART workers, were a force to reckon with. We rose up in defense of all working people against capitalism. As the strongest, most powerful transit union in the United States, on Independence Day of 2013, we had our boot on the neck of the dragon, but we didn’t finish the job. For various reasons (to be discussed over a beer later), we let up.

The BART unions still do not have a contract; we have another deadline of midnight, August 4, and recent history is repeating itself. If and when we go out on strike again, it has to be different. Working people and youth are under attack everywhere. We need to join forces to protect and improve the standard of living for all working people in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

Please join the BART unions and the ILWU for All Out August 1 in Oakland for a labor solidarity rally to stop attacks on BART transit workers and all employer attacks on unions.

Rhea Davis is a 16-year BART electronic technician and the BART chapter vice president of SEIU 1021.

The post We need to hold inept managers accountable for BART impasse appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Alicia Trost/Courtesy

This week, BART is showcasing a scale wooden replica of a preliminary design for new train cars that it plans to begin rolling out in 2017.

Passengers at Oakland’s MacArthur station are able to look inside at “the fleet of the future” and give design feedback. The public display, open from 2 to 7 p.m. until Friday, also includes a prototype of new digital displays that will alert passengers of approaching stops and train delays.

BART has been planning to redesign its 41-year-old trains since 2009, when it first requested remodeling proposals from several train car suppliers. BART currently uses the same train model it used when it first started in 1972.

“The fact of the matter is that we have the oldest railcars in the country right now,” said Jim Allison, deputy chief communications officer for BART. “It’s becoming harder to keep them running and harder to find the parts to fix them when necessary.”

Among the new changes are an additional door per car — from two to three — about 10 percent more standing room, interior bike racks, additional handrails and remodeled seats made of vinyl.

BART also hopes that the new cars will help it keep up with increasing passenger traffic, which is expected to increase from about 400,000 a day to about 500,000 a day in 2018. Traffic is expected to continue increasing partially due to planned service expansions in Silicon Valley.

But funding for the new cars is still tentative. Allison said that BART has an ultimate goal of buying 1,000 new train cars, replacing the 669 now in use and adding more, but funding has only been secured for 410 cars.

Some funds may come from fare increases that will take effect in January, but a settlement with BART labor unions over employee wages, currently being negotiated, could reduce funds for the new trains.

Reactions to the new design, developed by Bombardier Transportation, have been mostly positive.

“The engineering must reflect what the people want and how they’ll use it,” said Bob Lockhart, a retired BART employee who stopped by the exhibit. Lockhart said he noticed improved levels of brightness, space and general passenger accommodation.

Several BART employees were also stationed on-site to receive feedback from visitors.

“I think it’s great they’re letting us see all of this,” said Bethany Dean, a frequent BART passenger from Oakland who was also at the exhibit. “We can tell them our honest opinions about the changes, and it seems like they’re taking it all into consideration.”

This week, BART is showcasing a scale wooden replica of a preliminary design for new train cars that it plans to begin rolling out in 2017.

Passengers at Oakland’s MacArthur station are able to look inside at “the fleet of the future” and give design feedback. The public display, open from 2 to 7 p.m. until Friday, also includes a prototype of new digital displays that will alert passengers of approaching stops and train delays.

BART has been planning to redesign its 41-year-old trains since 2009, when it first requested remodeling proposals from several train car suppliers. BART currently uses the same train model it used when it first started in 1972.

“The fact of the matter is that we have the oldest railcars in the country right now,” said Jim Allison, deputy chief communications officer for BART. “It’s becoming harder to keep them running and harder to find the parts to fix them when necessary.”

Among the new changes are an additional door per car — from two to three — about 10 percent more standing room, interior bike racks, additional handrails and remodeled seats made of vinyl.

BART also hopes that the new cars will help it keep up with increasing passenger traffic, which is expected to increase from about 400,000 a day to about 500,000 a day in 2018. Traffic is expected to continue increasing partially due to planned service expansions in Silicon Valley.

But funding for the new cars is still tentative. Allison said that BART has an ultimate goal of buying 1,000 new train cars, replacing the 669 now in use and adding more, but funding has only been secured for 410 cars.

Some funds may come from fare increases that will take effect in January, but a settlement with BART labor unions over employee wages, currently being negotiated, could reduce funds for the new trains.

Reactions to the new design, developed by Bombardier Transportation, have been mostly positive.

“The engineering must reflect what the people want and how they’ll use it,” said Bob Lockhart, a retired BART employee who stopped by the exhibit. Lockhart said he noticed improved levels of brightness, space and general passenger accommodation.

Several BART employees were also stationed on-site to receive feedback from visitors.

“I think it’s great they’re letting us see all of this,” said Bethany Dean, a frequent BART passenger from Oakland who was also at the exhibit. “We can tell them our honest opinions about the changes, and it seems like they’re taking it all into consideration.”

The design phase will ultimately conclude in 2015 after another public display is held for Bombardier’s final model. If everything stays on track, all BART trains will be replaced with the new models by 2023.

Contact Andrew Dickey at adickey@dailycal.org.

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Uday Mehta/Staff

For those of you who have not heard of twerking — to say, those of you who fall under the elderly, Caucasian demographic — it has swept our already-sexually-promiscuous country with its motto of “shake, wobble and jiggle” in 2013. Regardless of whether the word derived from (foo)twork or twist-and-jerk, it seems like everyone from high school students — who were later arrested — to Miley Cyrus have made a twerking video of some kind. The Bay Area’s hardly an exception.

Three girls — forming a “Twerk Team” that Waka Flocka Flame would be proud of — romped around the streets and edifices of San Francisco to show off their backsides to some extremely confused passersby. In their YouTube video, which has gone viral in a span of five days, the trio showcased just how proud they were of their booty shakes in an assortment of places, including laundromats, grocery stores, restaurants, on buses and BART.

Reactions were mixed among the onlookers, who are easily the best part of the video considering that it is largely impossible to ignore three imposingly suggestive dancers and a conspicuous cameraman. We’re immediately treated to a captivated young white man a few seconds in and a dreadlocked fellow remarkably reminiscent of Lil Wayne about half a minute later. Somewhere in the middle, a seated woman recoils from the oncoming twerker as if the very air around them were riddled with sexually transmitted diseases. The Asians in the crowd tended to stare intently at their rear ends and proceeded to capture the whole thing on their phones. Another guy had the horrible misfortune of having his Go Car — a costly rental — twerked upon. There’s even a somewhat amused dog wearing sunglasses about a third of the way through.

The diners at the end did give them a good send-off, though, showering them in applause as a very disgruntled security officer escorted the team out the door.

Contact Uday Mehta at umehta@dailycal.org.

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Creative Commons/Courtesy

For Berkeley students and Bay Area residents in general, the BART strike was a major inconvenience. Most of us don’t drive, and even those who do prefer to use public transportation over long distances. As such, it’s not uncommon to think that the unions have the upper hand in this negotiation.

Yet nothing has been resolved since unionized BART employees went on strike last Monday. This is due to the fact that the unions have overestimated their leverage. A strike needs at least one of the following two factors in order to be impactful: inelastic demand for the suspended service or overwhelming public support.

On the surface, it would seem that the first factor is a given. However, Bay Area workers are speedy adapters. Most have chosen to use alternatives like carpooling, ferry, AC Transit bus and even Google bus to get into the city and back. Some have also opted to telecommute from home to avoid road congestion.

Perhaps the reason the public has adapted so quickly is that most of us are unsympathetic to the unionized workers’ cause. And it’s hardly surprising once we’ve looked at the numbers. BART workers are among the highest paid in transportation services. On average, BART operators of automated trains earn $30.22 per hour. Their work week only requires 37.5 hours, so a 40-hour schedule already has 2.5 hours of overtime built in. They only pay $92 a month toward their medical insurance plans, regardless of family size. They contribute nothing to their pension plan. Finally, there’s no limit to how much vacation time they can accrue (two years after she was forced to resign, former general manager Dorothy Dugger was still the top earner on BART’s payroll because she was cashing out 3,100 hours of unused time off). It’s no wonder that some Berkeley students have volunteered to fill in the vacancies — even a Cal degree will not usually earn you $30.22 per hour at the entry level!

Despite unfavorable support, the unions still refuse to budge unless BART agrees to give its workers a 4.5 percent raise per year for the next three years in addition to better healthcare and pension plans.

Meanwhile, BART’s management has agreed to double the original proposal to an 8 percent raise — 5 percent would be unconditional and 3 percent conditional on whether workers agree to pay more for their healthcare and pension.

With top state officials stepping in as mediators, BART employees have resumed work on Friday. However, another strike is inevitable if an agreement cannot be reached by Aug. 4.

Until then, here is some advice for both parties. First, the board of directors needs to seriously apply stricter scrutiny on employee benefits — we didn’t vote for these board members only to have them squander our tax money! Second, the unions need to wake up and take a look at the real world. Sure, the economy has recovered, but it’s far from being stable. Many people in the private sector have not received a raise in five years (cost-of-living adjustment excluded), so public servants should not be the first to complain. After all, the ones who are most affected by this strike are the low- and middle-income classes, who rely mainly on public transportation. In other words, the unions are hurting those they claim to help! It would be helpful if they can remember what former president Franklin D. Roosevelt said when he forbade public employees to join unions: “The employer is the whole people.”

Image source: acidhelm via Creative Commons

Anh Thai ponders about insidious world problems in her Tuesday blog. Contact Anh Thai at athai@dailycal.org.

The post Why BART workers should stop complaining appeared first on The Daily Californian.

BART service resumed Friday afternoon following the strike that stemmed from disagreements over contract negotiations for higher salaries, better safety regulations and the amount of worker contribution to pensions and medical benefits. Negotiations will continue over the next 30 days while the existing contract provisions remain in place.

While both sides have raised fair questions about employee contracts, it should not have taken until after a negotiation deadline and stoppage of service for a decision to be found. The fact that talks stopped on Sunday, June 30 — the original negotiating deadline — and did not resume until Tuesday, July 9 at 6 p.m. is emblematic of this problem and sadly reminiscent of partisan conflict in Congress.

Bay Area citizens are heavily dependent on BART for transportation around the region to almost a paralyzing degree. BART spokesman Rick Rice estimated that 400,000 commuters ride BART each day, and the Bay Area Council Economic Institute estimated the Bay Area economy lost almost $73 million each day in productivity as a result of the strike.There is no guarantee that there won’t be another strike following the 30-day extension period.

AC Transit and other Bay Area transportation services should be commended for stepping up their game during the BART strike. AC Transit increased the frequency and number of its transbay commuter buses and regular bus lines, such as the F line, which Berkeley residents use to travel to San Francisco.
Extending the negotiation deadline to Aug. 4 puts increased pressure on both sides to come to an agreement by this date. The public has already come to resent both BART’s workers and its administration and will continue to do so if a decision cannot be reached soon. As a type of public service, BART administration and employees owe it to travelers to stop jeopardizing the economy and daily routine of a major metropolitan area.

Both sides are reportedly apologetic. But we don’t need apologies — we need action.

The post BARTpocalypse appeared first on The Daily Californian.

“BART’s going on strike.” I got the news first from Twitter.

“Well, we’re screwed,” my roommate said.

His boyfriend piped up reassuringly. “We can make it work. We need to make a plan.”

My tribe of roommates sat down last week to figure out a strategy. Our apartment is in Fremont. Jeff works in Newark only a few miles away, but getting there by bus involves an ill-timed transfer. Devin goes to San Francisco State University in Daly City. John works in Corte Madera, and his normal commute involves three transit agencies, including BART. I have class in Berkeley four days a week, but I can take AC Transit the whole way if I have three hours to spare. Collectively, the household has one car. Solve for X, where X represents everyone getting to work and school on time and before we can’t stand one another anymore.

Solving this dilemma required a complicated system of picking up and dropping off, minimizing tolls and taking advantage of free BART parking during the strike. My roommate selflessly shared his fuel-efficient Honda, and together we put almost 100 miles a day on the odometer. The days began at 4:45 a.m. and ended at 10 p.m., but the job got done. Overall, the measurable cost of commuting this way came to just about the same as our combined cost of commute if BART were running. However, not everything can be measured in dollars and cents.

There are resources available to everyone that are simple to cultivate and can be incredibly valuable. These nonmonetary economic resources are the very thing that saved my friends, my roommates and me during the recent strike. The greatest of these resources is goodwill. My roommate didn’t hesitate to offer us the use of his car. One of my good friends is teaching in the Summer Bridge program and was immediately offered a closer place to stay in Berkeley. Another friend from Cal joined forces with a classmate so that they could carpool from Pleasanton together. The people who extend these offers are kind and generous, but the remainder of these transactions is made up by banked goodwill. The recipients of the kindness and help of friends put in months and sometimes years of the reciprocating behavior of friendship to indicate that we are worthy of this kind of nonmonetary investment.

A person without good friends — without this long term banking of goodwill — might have had to arrange for a rental car or a local hotel room in order to keep a job or make it to class during the last week. Comparing scenarios between people with banked goodwill and people without it doesn’t seem like an argument about economy, but the bottom line can be expressed in debit and credit.

This principle is nearly identical to the idea of networking. Networking is this nebulous idea of making lasting and worthwhile connections, and we’re all supposed to be doing it in college and online and at parties and any time the panic about post-graduation employment sets in. Networking is supposed to bank professional goodwill and remind potential contacts that we are fun at parties and that we know the same people; it’s supposed to keep our names and faces fresh in the minds of those who matter. The ones who matter aren’t always in charge, however. Often, even an entry-level good word is an advantage to an applicant.

Here’s the point: Whether networking for a job or banking goodwill for reciprocity in friendships, your contribution is the same. If you are friendly, if you are kind, if you are forthcoming and generous with your time and your thoughts, the payoff has value, even when forming priceless relationships. Goodwill has a distinct economic worth. It’s an odd way to think of it, but it means having a car to borrow or a couch to crash on in another city during a transit strike. Relationships make up our lives, but they also have measurable utility. The more you put into them, the more you can someday derive from them.

The BART strike lasted less than a week. My friend staying in Berkeley left his borrowed lodging clean and with a vase of flowers on the table in thanks. My friends from Pleasanton worked out the worth of their carpool without gas money, because one is far better off than the other. Instead, the driver asked her passenger to read her the news, tell her jokes and keep the ride interesting. I brought back my roommate’s car with a bunch of new miles on it, but I also ran all his errands for him while I had it and surprised him with takeout.

Being rich or being broke is not merely a condition dictated by the contents of one’s bank account. It is, literally and metaphorically, expressed in the relationships we have with one another and what comes of them. Measure in utils, measure in love.

Meg Elison writes the Monday column on financial issues affecting UC Berkeley students.

Meg Elison writes the Monday column on financial issues affecting UC Berkeley students.Contact Meg Elison at melison@dailycal.org.

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