BART announces 10.8 percent pay hike to head off labor conflict

Seeking to avert another messy fight with employees, BART officials on Monday announced a tentative deal with workers to boost pay over four years — an unexpected agreement that arrives well ahead of the current labor contract’s expiration and just before the transit agency plans to ask voters to pony up billions for system upgrades.

BART management portrayed the deal as a big win for an agency that has struggled not only with two shutdowns when disgruntled employees walked off the job in 2013, stranding riders and creating even more highway gridlock, but continuous lapses in service blamed on an aging rail system.

“We’re here today to give the Bay Area some good news and give riders some good news,” BART General Manager Grace Crunican said at a news event Monday morning arranged in conjunction with the agency’s three labor unions.

While BART officials said the contract had nothing to do with a $3.5 billion bond measure the agency is pursuing for transit improvements, it comes as management takes heat for soliciting money while failing to get its labor issues in order.

State Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, a leading critic of BART since the 2013 strikes, recently penned a letter with more than three dozen locally elected officials demanding the agency rebuild public trust and restore its fiscal house before proceeding with a ballot initiative.

[...] the influential Bay Area Council, which represents the region’s business leaders, said that such a contract was vital before asking voters to sign off on funds for the ailing train system.

“Like many BART riders and Bay Area residents, the Bay Area Council is not a fan of the current labor agreements, but we have a profound responsibility to do what’s right and work to pass the November BART bond measure this year,” said the group’s President and CEO Jim Wunderman.

BART also drew negative attention this year when The Chronicle reported that many of its security cameras were fake, as well as when employees received $1,000 bonuses because of surging ridership.

[...] Crunican defended the proposed salary hike Monday, saying employees were critical to managing the worn system even as ridership jumped to record highs.