Editorials

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Gray Davis is asking a state court for a 60-day cooling-off period to avert a BART strike. 

Attorney General Bill Lockyer is scheduled to make the request Friday morning in San Francisco Superior Court. 

Three unions representing 2,800 workers of the San Francisco Bay area’s commuter train system have voted to strike.  

A cooling-off period would keep contract negotiations going, and prevent a strike for the summer. 

“It would take effect very soon, if the court acts on it,” said Lockyer spokesman Nathan Barankin. 

Davis made the request Thursday after receiving a fact-finding report warning a strike would “endanger the public’s health, safety, and welfare.” 

A strike would affect 335,000 commuters in the San Francisco Bay area.  

The last BART strike, in 1997, paralyzed Bay Area traffic – and BART ridership has increased since then. 

Union leaders who requested the cooling-off period last week said they were pleased by the governor’s move and noted that four such periods in recent decades have led to negotiated contract settlements.  

Only the 1997 cooling-off period led to a strike.