This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now newsletter for BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), a rapid transit rail system in the San Francisco Bay Area – April 9, 2025
The corporate media showed what side it was on in covering the strike at VTA (Valley Transportation Authority) in San Jose. They made it sound like a wage offer of 11% was meaningful. Actually it was – it was an insult. They didn’t talk about living in Silicon Valley on a VTA worker’s wage. They didn’t talk about the violence that bus drivers have to be on guard for all day long. Or what it’s like to clean buses in the winter or clean the daily mess.
They focused on the inconvenience of workers striking. Yes, it creates an inconvenience for those who rely on VTA. They claimed the contract had a “no strike” clause and the union violated that. The union officials have taken this to the courts to decide.
It seems doubtful that a new strike will come out of this. But that doesn’t mean this is over, no more than the situation facing BART, AC Transit or MUNI workers or other workers is solved by a contract.
