By Bay City News
Less than a day after BART union leaders announced a strike, more than 100 workers and supporters gathered today at a noontime rally at the Lake Merritt BART station in Oakland to protest what they say are unfair labor practices by the agency's management.
Dozens of BART workers wore purple Service Employees International Union Local 1021 T-shirts or shirts representing Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and toted signs with messages such as "On Strike" and "Replace the BART Board."
Attendees heard from about a dozen union representatives and leaders of local organizations standing in support with the unions during the strike, which began this morning. One ATU Local 1555 representative, veteran train operator Chris Finn, told the crowd that the BART unions did all they could to avoid a strike.
[Poll: Do you think public transit workers should be allowed to strike?]
But at the end of negotiations, he said, BART management "brought up a proposal ... to effectively kill unions' rights to bargain." Finn, who has been part of the union's bargaining team during the lengthy negotiations with management, said as of this afternoon, ATU officials had not received any offers from BART to return to the bargaining table.
"They are intent on causing a strike," he said. "They are hoping the public will not support it."
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