All aboard the bicker train; BART talks slog on

As Sunday crunch time nears for another strike, the two sides spent much of yesterday bickering and complaining about each other rather than engage in serious talks. Negotiators are supposed to take up the contentious issue of pension and medical benefits today. Perhaps as a prelude, BART management’s salvo-of-the-day was to declare that if the union got the 20.1 percent pay increase over three years that it began the talks asking for, it would make it necessary to raise fares 18 percent over the next three years. Chronicle; Mercury News