SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT 300 Lakeside Drive, P.O.

Box 12688 Oakland, CA 94604-2688 (510) 464-6000

2013

May 31, 2013 Jovanka Beckles Councilmember, City of Richmond P.O. Box 4046 Richmond, CA 94804-1661 Dear Councilmember Beckles, On behalf of the Board of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District, I am writing to update you on our ongoing labor negotiations. As you know, all five labor contracts expire on June 30, 2013 and we have been bargaining since April 1,2013.
It is the intention of the BART Board to continue negotiating with our unions toward

Tom Radulovich
PRESIOEI'H

Joel Keller
VICE PRESIDENT

Grace Crunican
GENERAL MANAGER

DIRECTORS Gail Murray

1ST DISTRICT

Joel Keller
2ND DISTRICT

Rebecca Saltzman
3RD DISTRICT

Robert Raburn
4TH DISTRICT

John McPartland
5TH DISTRICT

a responsible settlement and ensure continued service without a work stoppage. Since we represent some of the same constituents, I always appreciate your concerns about our service. You have my commitment that we will keep you updated regularly about our progress with email notices, telephone calls, and letters. Our employees work hard at providing reliable, on-time, and safe service for the people of the Bay Area. The goal of these negotiations is to ensure the long-term financial health and sustainability of our transit system to both provide for our workforce and serve the present and future needs of the Bay Area. BART is currently at a critical juncture in its 40-year history. While enjoying record ridership, we also face enormous reinvestment needs that will define whether we thrive or deteriorate in the decades ahead. Our reinvestment needs are necessities, not amenities. We are purchasing a new fleet of rail cars to replace the oldest fleet in the nation. We need to update our stations, our aging communications and train control systems, and expand our maintenance facilities to meet increasing ridership and to ensure that our trains continue to run on time. This reinvestment in BART is essential for the mobility, livability, sustainability, and economic vitality of the Bay Area. As Federal and State support for transit shrinks, we are increasingly reliant on local sources to meet these essential capital needs. We have already asked our riders to pay increased fares and higher parking fees to fund a share of these costs. We are exploring options for bond measures, bridge toll funding, assessment districts, and development impact fees for capital needs. We must also have fiscally responsible contracts that provide fair and competitive wages and benefits for our employees, and share some of the risk of escalating health care and pension costs.

Thomas M. Blalock, P.E.

6TH DISTRICT

Zakhary Mallett
7TH DISTRICT

James Fang
8TH DISTRICT

Tom Radulovich
9TH DISTRICT

www.bart.gov

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT 300 Lakeside Drive, P.O. Box 12688 Oakland, CA 94604-2688 (510) 464-6000

2013

Tom Radulovich
PRESIDENT

Joel Keller
VICE PRESIDENT

Grace Crunican
GENERAL MANAGER

Some of the issues in these negotiations are familiar to you. BART workers do not pay any portion of their pension costs and they pay less than 5% of their medical costs. Recently at the bargaining table, you asked your workers to share a greater portion of responsibility for these growing costs. This year, we are asking the same from BART workers. In a recent poll, 72% of the residents of the three-county BART district agreed that workers should assume some of the costs of their pension and health care packages. In these times of shrinking resources, none of us has a budget which is robust enough to compensate public employees in the manner that they desire and deserve. Hard choices are the rule of the day. We are making progress at the bargaining table, and appreciate your interest and support as we work to resolve these issues fairly and equitably. Sincerely,

DIRECTORS Gail Murray

1ST DISTRICT

Joel Keller
2ND DISTRICT

Rebecca Saltzman
3RD DISTRICT

Robert Rabum
4TH DISTRICT

John McPartland
5TH DISTRICT

Thomas M. Blalock, P.E.

6TH DISTRICT

Tom Radulovich President

Zakhary Mallett
7TH DISTRICT

James Fang
8TH DISTRICT

Tom Radulovich
9TH DISTRICT

ili

www.bart.gov