NJ Transit train engineers strike, affecting 350K commuters

More than 400 New Jersey Transit train engineers went on a strike just past midnight Friday in a dispute over pay, affecting more than 350,000 New Jersey and New York City commuters. 

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced that NJ Transit’s 450 engineers and trainees will be striking after failing to reach an agreement following 15 hours of contract negotiations. 

The union said workers started picketing 4 a.m. local time Friday at several locations, including Newark, New York City and Atlantic City. 

“Our members at NJ Transit had the full support of our national union, as well as the Teamsters. NJ Transit has a half-billion dollars for a swanky new headquarters and $53 million for decorating the interior of that unnecessary building. They gave away $20 million in revenue during a fare holiday last year,” BLET National President Mark Wallace said in a statement late Thursday. 

“They have money for penthouse views and pet projects, just not for their front-line workers. Enough is enough,” Wallace added. “We will stay out until our members receive the fair pay that they deserve.”

The union has previously said that low base pay is one of the main obstacles to reaching an agreement, one that both sides have been discussing since 2019. 

“Our base wage right now is only $89,000 a year. So this is, you know, why we say the discrepancy when New Jersey Transit citing an average wage, that's, you know, 130,000 obviously, 135,000 bears no relation to reality,” Tom Haas, the general chairman of BLET, said during a press conference this week. 

“What New Jersey Transit has offered us versus what we have put on the table. We've put on we put on the table something that we feel is fiscally responsible and fair to New Jersey Transit's engineers,” Haas said on Monday. 

NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said he is willing to keep negotiating. He noted that while both sides agree on the pay bump, a substantial increase could sway other unions to do the same, creating a greater financial challenge for the nation’s third-largest transit system. 

“What I want to assure you is my commitment to [New Jersey] Governor [Phil] Murphy and to you is to make sure you understand that I am not leaving the negotiating table, I never will because ultimately this is an achievable deal, we just need to make sure now we do it in a fiscally responsible manner,” Kolluri said during late Thursday press conference. 

The last New Jersey Transit strike took place more than four decades ago.