San Francisco Sickout: Delays Continue For A Second Day

And the San Francisco sickout continues… San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency workers called in sick for the second day in a row on Tuesday, resulting in hour-long delays all over the Muni ...
San Francisco Sickout: Delays Continue For A Second Day
Written by Val Powell
  • And the San Francisco sickout continues…

    San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency workers called in sick for the second day in a row on Tuesday, resulting in hour-long delays all over the Muni system.

    The Muni system has 600 vehicles in their roster, however, only half were operating Tuesday morning, as mentioned by Paul Rose, the agency spokesman—which is much better than what occurred on Monday, where only a third of vehicles were operating.

    The agency eventually added a hundred more vehicles to improve services, but they still advised commuters to expect some disruption.

    They implemented express and limited buses to halt at every stop, unless they are already at full capacity. In addition, cable cars will be augmented with shuttle buses, albeit very limited.

    BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) will be honoring Muni fares that fall between the stations of Daly City and Embarcadero.

    SFMTA (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) has advised customers to find an alternative means of transportation while the sickout is ongoing.

    The sickout is being done by the operators as a way of protesting contract talks that have been stalled. The new contract proposes that the operators will receive a pay raise, however, they will be required to contribute a much larger amount for their pension plan.

    Workers are not allowed to go on strike, but they can opt to call in sick instead. Rose mentioned that they do not know how many employees called in sick.

    Alicia John-Baptiste, chief of staff of the transit agency, issued a memo on Monday, stating that “Operators claiming to be sick today, or in connection with any future ‘sickout,’ will be required to submit adequate verification from their health care provider in order to be eligible to receive paid sick leave.”

    The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will be holding a meeting so they can make plans on how to urge the workers to return to work. They cannot produce any return-to-work orders, as a court of law is required to issue those.

    Image via YouTube

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