NJ Transit engineers strike set to enter 3rd day as union, rail officials race to reach deal
NEW YORK — New Jersey rail lines stood silent for a second day as union members and state officials agreed to keep hammering out a contract Sunday as the start of the work week loomed.
'[Saturday's] discussions continued to be constructive,' NJ Transit President Kris Kolluri said late in the afternoon. 'We've mutually agreed to adjourn formal discussions for the day but will continue talking and look forward to resuming discussions [Sunday.]'
Kolluri and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy had scheduled meetings with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen on both Saturday and Sunday in the hopes of ending the engineers strike before Monday.
The union asked for the Saturday meeting, which was scheduled on the fly late Friday, Kolluri said as he gave reporters an update on contract negotiations. A Sunday meeting had already been scheduled a few days earlier.
'The national president of locomotive engineers reached out to us for a meeting, and the governor and I promised to meet anytime and anywhere to see if we can get to a resolution,' Kolluri said in an early morning press conference Saturday.
NJ Transit's 450 engineers went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Friday, leaving an estimated 350,000 daily commuters relying on NJ Transit buses to get to Manhattan.
Kolluri admitted that the NJT buses were crowded Friday, but the service ran efficiently enough 'to make sure everyone who wanted to get on a bus had a bus available,' he said.
Commutes to and from a Shakira concert at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Friday night were handled by Coach USA buses that were supplemented by NJT buses, Kolluri said.
'We also had 50 buses waiting at the Vince Lombardi station to make sure that nobody was stranded,' he said. 'Within 45 minutes, NJ Transit quietly and efficiently moved every single person who wanted to get on a bus out of there.'
Money — specifically the hourly wage for the engineers who make the nation's third largest commuter rail network run — is at the center of the labor dispute that came to a head Thursday night as talks stalled and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen called the strike they first voted to authorize in August 2023.
NJ Transit engineers' hourly rate starts at $39.78 an hour — less than their LIRR counterparts, who make $49.92, as well as the engineers of Metro-North, who make $57.20.
Kolluri has said he offered a raise that would have seen the BLET members make $49.82 an hour by the summer. That offer led to a tentative agreement earlier this spring that looked briefly to have averted NJ Transit's first rail strike in 40 years. The proposal was overwhelmingly rejected by 87% of BLET membership, however.
Commuters are encouraged to work at home if the strike continues into Monday. Kolluri said that his people are 'ready to wake up the railroad' as soon as the deal is reached, but the deal will have to be an equitable one.
'We want a fair deal that will not break the bank,' he said. 'That is our principle. I hope the union understands that is where we are and that is where we will be. The governor and I have said we will not make a decision on a labor contract that will leave the next governor a mess to clean up.'
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