Plus: Women’s Marches descend across the SF Bay Area and Tesla stocks continue to nose dive amid Musk’s ongoing controversies.
Public transit usage is increasing across the SF Bay Area, but budgetary woes still plague transit agencies across the region — an issue nearly ubiquitous across all major American metros, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic decimated those public transit departments. SFMTA faces an over $300 million budgetary deficit; AC Transit’s $35 million debt continues ballooning; BART’s ongoing budgetary issues are now north of $400 million … or more.
In South Bay, VTA workers threatened a strike over the weekend amid union conversations for unmet contract negotiations. Per KTVU, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265 notified the VTA on Thursday night that its members would strike starting at 12:01 a.m. Monday morning, virtually wiping out all service for the morning commute. Prior to Monday’s shutdown, the union and the VTA had a final meeting on Sunday to avoid the strike; that meeting lasted about 10 minutes and solved or slowed nothing.
Among the contract negotiations, the union is requesting an 18% increase in wages that will be applied collectively over the next three years; other requests include approved benefits and job security.
Mind you: It wasn’t the goal of these union workers to go on strike. The mission of these negotiations was to see if ground could be found to improve working conditions and pay, especially amid growing inflation and economic uncertainty.
“This was not our intent. We have been very upfront with the agency from day one on what our tasks were,” said Raj Singh, president and business agent of ATU 265. “Our list was very small, so that way, the agency can calculate the type of impact our demands would have on the budget. But unfortunately, the agency just hasn’t reciprocated.”
As of Wednesday, VTA workers are still on strike and public transit in the South Bay has been hobbled as a result. In a world where quite literally the richest man in the world has used a White House press conference as a sales ad for his “everything computer” vehicles, it’s a glaring eyesore when basic, reasonable means for middle class workers can’t be met.
What else transpired over the weekend? Let’s take a look.
- A hiking group got lost (and then rescued) Sunday. It’s unclear when the party of three set off on the hike in a remote part of the Santa Cruz mountains, but by the time they were rescued by CHP, first-responders noted that the two children in the group were experiencing early signs of hypothermia. More info.
- Women’s March draws hundreds in San Francisco and thousands collectively across the Bay Area. An estimated 500 people march in Saturday’s Women’s March near SF’s City Hall, calling for reinstatement of nationwide abortion rights and expanding on bodily autonomy; similar sized crowds organized around the same subjects were seen elsewhere across other Bay Area metros, as well. More info.
- Tesla stock continues to plummet, ICYWW. Though there’s been a brief uptick after Tuesday’s Tesla Lawn Conference™, TSLA has still lost over 25% of its value over the past month. More info.
Feature Image: Courtesy of VTA
