BART management and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 leaders announced Sunday night, 6 hours before a scheduled walk-out by 900 station/train operators, that a tentative deal had been reached. ATU was the only one of three BART unions to reject the proposed contract, whereon BART management consequently imposed unilateral terms on the union, which have now been lifted, pending a union vote planned for later this week. Details of the new contract will not be revealed until after it has been presented to union members, but management says that it meets their cost-cutting needs and the Local 1555 president feels it is fair, given the times, and promises to campaign for its acceptance. In the meantime, Bay Area commuters are relieved that BART business will continue as usual.
See "BART strike averted, tentative deal reached", Rachel Gordon, Demian Bulwa, San Francisco Chronicle, August 16, 2009