On this day in Labor History the year was 2013.
That was the day that two workers on California’s Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART as it is more commonly called, were struck and killed by a train.
Christopher Sheppard was a BART track engineer.
Laurence Daniels was a contract employee.
Both men had years of experience working on the tracks.
They were inspecting the tracks when they were hit and killed.
The workers who usually operated the trains were out on strike.
The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and SEIU Local 1021 had walked off the job the day before.
The strike disrupted the daily commute of 400,000 Bay Area travelers.
The unions were striking for improved wages and safer working conditions.
The union wanted bullet proof glass for station agent booths for worker safety.
They also asked for improved lighting in the tunnels.
According to an article in Mother Jones, “A BART spokesperson called the safety issues a “smoke screen,” arguing that contract negotiations were not the place to raise them.”
In response to the strike, BART was training a replacement worker to run the trains when the tragedy occurred.
The manager who was supposed to monitoring the unexperienced driver had left the car.
In addition, the National Transportation Safety Board found that BART had no way for workers on the tracks to communicate with train drivers.
The family of Laurence Daniels sued BART, which settled for $300,000.
The unions and BART settled the strike two days after the tragic deaths.
The union won a nearly a 16 percent pay increase the over four of the year contract.
The union also won safety upgrades.
But management won concessions on employee contributions to medical benefits and pensions.
February 27 - The 1937 Woolworth Sit-Down
February 26 - The Battle at Bethlehem
February 25 - The Paterson Silk Strike Begins
February 24 - Muller v Oregon Decided
February 23 - Black Workers Lead Historic Strike at UNC
February 22 - Labelling Teachers as Terrorists
February 21 - The First Female Telephone Operator
February 20 - Angelina Grimke is Born
February 19 - Philly Street Car Workers Spark General Strike
February 18 - Anti-Slavery Begins in America
February 17 - Standing Up By Sitting Down
February 16 - The Wisconsin Uprising Begins
February 15 - The Uprising of the 20,000 Comes to a Close
February 14 - Kansas City Laundresses Walk Off the Job
February 13 - Martial Law Declared to Crush the UAW
February 12 - The NAACP is Founded
February 11 - Cutting Corners on Safety at Sequoyah I
February 10 - Forty-Three Workers Buried Alive
February 9 - Organizing Bloody Harlan
February 8 - Butte Copper Miners Join the 1919 Strike Wave
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