Try reading

It is still being investigated can potentially turn out to be a huge fiasco.

BART first said the train was under automatic control, then said it was a maintenance run, then finally admitted that it was a training run (to replace striking workers with unqualified managers to control the trains)

then as the strike started, they were working on their plan to have BART managers, and not regular train operators, operate trains. they also had replacement workers at central control directing the trains --not the regular workers.

then the first day after the strike started, two workers on the tracks were killed.

now it's true that the unions were very subdued in the aftermath of the deaths, but basically BART management came back and agreed to much of what the unions wanted and sent some of the trickier parts to arbitration, which the unions had requested.

absurd?

follow the story before dismissing the truth out of hand.

and they wanted to avoid another accident. We will see what the NTSB and the individual lawsuits turn up, but I suspect inexperience on the part of the driver, dispatcher and possibly track workers came together badly.

I'm guessing that maybe the BART board members got spooked and talked to management and maybe the union gave some too.

Mediator threw up his hands and left as the talks broke down. Management was training replacements when the accident happened

So sad

The union spokespeople make it sound like concessions were made on modernizing communication work rules but not on what the union deems "safety" work rules.

This ridiculous "simple approval" process, where workers on or near live tracks are responsible for their own safety, has now killed three workers in five years in the same section of track (this incident was between Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill station, the 2008 incident was between Pleasant Hill and Concord stations.)

Up at 530am to drive my couch-sleeping Bart refugees to work and school this morning, and although I can hear the trains (I live four blocks from a station), I'm not sure if I should let any of them chance it. Maybe I'll hit 80 hell one last time.

I'm just happy to be getting my living room back after nine days of uncertainty and guests. I'm so glad my personal commute is 10 mins and not involving expressways. Tomorrow will feel positively sedate.

and the early part of the evening commute may still be off schedule.

They didn't get any trains running until around 6 AM so it was probably a wise move to be the shuttle for your couch surfers again this AM.

I've been part of a legal strike and it is not easy. Thank you, workers, for walking the walk. All workers will benefit in the long run.