Train kills 2 workers amid San Francisco strike

A commuter train that is part of a San Francisco Bay Area system whose employees are on strike hit and killed two maintenance workers Saturday afternoon, officials said.
The accident that killed one system employee and one contractor in the East Bay city of Walnut Creek occurred shortly before 2 PM local time as the train was on a routine maintenance run operated by a manager, Bay Area Rapid Transit officials said.
BART officials said in a statement that the manager was an "experienced operator" and the train was being run in automatic mode under computer control at the time of the accident.

Officials from the two unions representing BART workers, who have been on strike since Thursday, have warned of the danger that could come with allowing managers to operate trains.
At least one of the unions, Amalgamated Transit Union 1555 announced that its 900 workers would not be picketing on Sunday out of respect for the victims and their families.
Also yesterday, ATU local president Antonette Bryant said she was taking a final contract offer from BART before members for a vote, but expects it will be rejected.

"It's our hope we can get it to members this week," Bryant told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. She said she expects the vote to be "a resounding no."

The two workers killed were performing track inspections in response to a reported dip in the track, BART said.
"Both people had extensive experience working around moving trains in both the freight train and the rapid transit industry," BART said.
The procedures for such maintenance require one employee to inspect the track and the other to serve as a lookout for oncoming traffic, BART officials said, but they did not immediately say whether that procedure was followed.
The manager was shuttling a pair of cars between yards to have graffiti cleaned off them, BART Assistant General Manager Paul Oversier told the Contra Costa Times.

Before the accident, union leaders spent the day attempting to convince the riders who make 400,000 daily trips on the system that workers' demands are not unreasonable amid increasing hostility in social media and other outlets.
The ATU agreed with BART management on the economic parts of the contract, including a 12 per cent pay raise that when increased pension and health insurance costs becomes nearly a 1 per cent salary loss for workers, Bryant said.
The two sides came to an impasse over work rules, including the length of the work day and when overtime pay kicks in, the union said.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit system carries its ridership through tunnels under the bay and into the region's urban core of San Francisco from four surrounding counties, relieving what would otherwise be congested bridges.