It seems like the issue of Public Employee Unions just won’t go away. These Unions are powerful both locally and in the State of California as a whole. So, predictably, efforts to reform the Civil Service rules in San Francisco and the funding of Public Unions in the State have met with stiff and bitter opposition from well-connected and wealthy Unions.

And now, today, we get word that it’s quite likely that the Unions who represent BART workers (BART is the regional train system for the San Francisco Bay Area) will probably walk off the job this Friday, forcing some 300,000 plus commuters a day to find some other way to get around.

In short, Black Friday is coming.

I remember vividly the last BART strike, in 1997. It was a bloody mess. Bus lines from the East Bay that usually carried 9.500 riders per day had to deal with 42,500 riders. The Bay Bridge was backed up for miles. You think driving to the City in commute traffic is bad now? Until you’ve seen Bay Bridge traffic during a BART strike, well, you ain’t seen nothin’.

So, today, BART is telling everybody to get ready. Make your alternate transit plans, or even better, plan to telecommute, if that option is available to you, starting on Friday.

But the brouhaha begs the larger question: what should the role of Unions be, especially when it relates to Unions who represent government workers in essential sectors? Basically, when these Unions strike, they are striking against the people, aren’t they? And, heck, everyone agrees that BART workers (and their directors) are extremely well-paid now. I mean, the lowest-paid worker at BART (utility/maintenance personnel) are paid $50,000 at the entry level. And station agents and train drivers pull down $60,000 for entry level hires.

I don’t know, I just can’t get away from the view that, when these public workers strike, they are essentially holding a gun to the heads of the very people that they have sworn to serve.

Something to consider when you are stuck in traffic this Friday.

June 27th, 2005 | Economics, SF Politics & Culture

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