Train service between New Jersey and New York remained suspended for a second day Saturday, as negotiations continued between union leaders and state officials over a contract that could bring rail engineers back to work.
NJ Transit President Kris Kolluri and New Jersey Gov. Murphy scheduled back-to-back meetings with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) on both Saturday and Sunday in an effort to end the strike before the Monday morning rush hour.
According to Kolluri, the union requested the Saturday meeting, which was arranged late Friday. He and the governor had already planned to meet with union leaders on Sunday.
NJ Transit’s 450 engineers walked off the job at 12 a.m. Friday, halting all rail service and leaving approximately 350,000 daily commuters without train access to Manhattan. In response, NJ Transit has added additional buses to supplement service, but capacity remains limited.
While Kolluri acknowledged that buses were crowded on Friday, he said the service ran efficiently enough “to make sure everyone who wanted to get on a bus had a bus available.”
At the center of the labor dispute is the hourly wage paid to NJ Transit engineers, the backbone of the nation’s third largest commuter rail network. The agency has proposed raises in line with agreements reached with 14 other unions, following a model known as pattern bargaining. However, BLET members argue that their pay must be increased beyond those terms to stay competitive with neighboring railroads, warning that without higher wages, more workers will leave for better-paying positions elsewhere.
Currently, NJ Transit engineers earn a starting base wage of $39.78 per hour, significantly less than their counterparts at the Long Island Rail Road, who earn $49.92, and Amtrak engineers, who make $55.44 per hour.
“If BLET chooses to strike, the cost of providing limited alternative service would be $4 million per day to taxpayers,” the state-owned company argued.
A tentative agreement reached in March would have raised BLET members’ hourly wage to $49.82 by the summer. The deal briefly appeared to avert NJ Transit’s first rail strike in four decades, but it was overwhelmingly rejected by 87 percent of union members.
Several elected officials are urging both sides to get back to the table and reach an agreement as soon as possible.
State Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz said she is “severely concerned about the consequences of this strike on our residents and our businesses.”
For now, NJ Transit asks all those who can work from home to do so and limit travel to essential purposes only.
