Strike at New Jersey rail system strands New York-bound commuters
NJ Transit locomotive engineers strike near the Newark-Penn Station in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., May 16, 2025. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
NEW YORK (Reuters) -New Jersey rail engineers walked off the job on Friday after marathon contract talks stalled, setting off a strike at a transit system that serves some 350,000 rail passengers a day, including tens of thousands of commuters into New York City.
The commuter rail strike - the first to hit New Jersey Transit since a three-week walkout more than 40 years ago - went into effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT).
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, which represents 450 NJ Transit engineers who drive the agency's commuter trains, said a 15-hour bargaining session broke off when management negotiators walked out of the talks at 10 p.m. on Thursday. Wages are the key sticking point.
As the morning rush got underway on Friday, delays on the bridges, tunnels and ferries crossing the Hudson River into Manhattan were light, according to 511.gov, a website that monitors traffic flows. Fridays see fewer commuters into New York than any other weekday.
Union members began picketing several locations at 4 a.m. on Friday, including NJ Transit headquarters in Newark, New Jersey.
At a Friday news conference, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy blamed the work stoppage on the union and said management was ready to resume negotiations "in good faith" at any time.
"It is frankly a mess of their own making and it is a slap in the face of every commuter and worker who relies on New Jersey Transit," he said of the union's strike.
Kris Kolluri, president and CEO of NJ Transit, said that meeting the union's wage demands would put the agency into a fiscal "death spiral."
Mark Wallace, national president of the union, said management, not his members, were responsible for triggering the walkout and that the union was willing to return to the bargaining table any time.
"In my opinion, they essentially put us on strike, because they walked away from the table with two hours left," he said at a picket line outside Penn Station in Manhattan. "The ball's in the court of New Jersey Transit. ... I think if they will open their eyes a little bit, they'll find a path."
WORKERS URGED TO STAY AT HOME
Many commuters apparently heeded the advice of NJ Transit, the third-largest U.S. transit system, which urged commuters to work from home if possible.
At the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan, several commuters from New Jersey said their buses were not overly crowded.
Anthony Wilkerson, 34, who lives in West Orange, said he typically takes the train.
"I got a seat to myself this morning," said Wilkerson, who works in tech. But he noted that it was Friday and wondered whether next week would bring more crowding.
NJ Transit said it would increase bus services on existing lines and charter private buses to operate from several satellite lots in the event of a rail strike but warned that buses would only be able to handle around 20% of rail customers.
The looming strike had already prompted the agency to cancel trains and buses to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, for pop star Shakira's concerts on Thursday and Friday nights. Murphy said travel to and from the sold-out stadium on Thursday went smoothly for the 50,000 fans in attendance.
The labor clash came weeks after negotiators had agreed on a potential deal in March, only for the union's members to vote overwhelmingly to reject it.
The union has said it was aiming to raise the engineers' salaries to match those at other commuter railroads in the region.
NJ Transit has said it cannot afford the pay raises the engineers are seeking because 14 other unions that negotiate separate labor contracts with the agency would then demand higher wage rates.
NJ Transit says the engineers currently make $135,000 on average and that management had offered a deal that would yield an average salary of $172,000. But the union has disputed those figures, saying the current average salary is actually $113,000.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Joseph Ax and Steve Gorman; Editing by Frank McGurty and Mark Porter)
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