Trains in the San Francisco Bay area will be running for at least another two months. A state Superior Court judge issued a 60-day cooling-off period requested by Gov. Jerry Brown in an unusual weekend ruling on Sunday.
The injunction prevents BART workers from going on another strike, which will stay in effect until midnight Oct. 10 as they continue to work out a new labor deal with the transit agency. Before the judge's ruling, union workers planned to walk off the job Monday as they did at the beginning of July, creating 4 1/2 days of chaos for BART's 400,000 daily commuters.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis E.A. Karnow said Sunday morning that he had no choice but to grant the strike reprieve, which Gov. Jerry Brown requested Friday afternoon.
"If the court finds that the threatened strike will significantly disrupt transportation services and endanger the public's health, safety or welfare. I have to issue the order," Karnow said according to the LA Times.
"Another strike would have had grave impacts on the riding and driving public," said Zakhary Mallett, a BART director who attended the weekend hearing.
After the cooling-off period was issued, BART and its unions continued to negotiate until 7 p.m. that night, however, a consensus was not reached and there is no word on the next date talks will resume.
"We are done for the day," said Chris Finn, a member of the bargaining team for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555. "We don't have any negotiation dates scheduled," according to the San Francisco Gate.
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