Wouldn't indexing the minimum wage to inflation just be like a dog chasing its tail? That's how it has often seemed to me. Same thing for cost of living adjustments.
But if there are going to be cost of living adjustments, why are additional raises necessary for the same job and the same work? Individuals are entitled to higher pay just for their seniority, but that's usually part of a fixed wage ladder. What is the point of the extra money above and beyond the COLA?
And the wage freezes only have that effect if people have come to expect raises. It will affect earnings for everyone, insofar as they will think they "deserve more" (often on the backs of taxpayers, without regard for debt and deficits). They're still being paid. Nothing is being taken away.
This is a chronic misunderstanding of how inflation works. A 10 cent increase in the minimum wage will not cause a 10 cent increase in inflation. A 10 cent increase in nominal wages in any one sector will not cause a 10 cent increase in inflation in the market.
This is not a wage "increase" and it's disingenuous to refer to it as such. If anything, it's just a correction for the wage decreases of the past 4 years. Plus, the inflationary COL increases are well in excess of what the workers are asking for here.
As an aside, there's definitely a point to be made of not shutting down basic services. In the end, the total benefit that the workers will reap from this new agreement would be far outweighed by the sheer cost of shutting public transportation down, and that cost will be borne primarily by the lower classes. Let's not kid ourselves and pretend that the BART workers are doing some grand favor to society by standing their ground; the longer this strike goes, the more harmed society would be.
However, any approach that strips these basic service workers of their collective bargaining rights is one not steeped in pragmatism. Leftbehind raises the great point that there's no reason that these basic service workers should trust any entity to provide them with fair and just compensation in the absence of collective bargaining rights. In a perfect world, the government could easily maintain that these workers could not strike, provided salary increases are made quarterly to address changes in inflation and productivity. However, the US government is not prepared to do that, nor is there much consensus on how such a law would be administered if it actually were to be enacted. Thus, we're left with our only solution.
The workers must exercise their collective bargaining rights, at great cost to society. 
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