First the BART-ocalypse that didn't happen today, then the I-80 traffic jam that did, and now ... more Bay Area transit Summer of Discontent news.
An Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District employee union delivered a strike notice to the transit agency's board of directors at its meeting in Oakland this afternoon.
Union workers are threatening a walk-off as early as this Wednesday. AC Transit -- which runs buses from Richmond to Fremont and across the Bay Bridge -- has been locked in a months-long negotiation with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192. The union’s current contract expired on June 30, but workers chose not to strike at the same time as BART. Both transit agencies on strike at the same time could have been debilitating for local commuters.
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192, which represents 1,625 mechanics and bus operators, notified the board about a possible work stoppage beginning as soon as 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
AC Transit has offered the union a 9 percent salary raise over three years and wants union workers to pay 10 percent to their healthcare costs, what other district employees pay. The union wants a 10.5 percent raise and to phase in healthcare payments at a "reasonable level," but didn't share details about what that might mean.