Latest news with #locomotiveengineers
Bloomberg
23-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
NJ Transit Engineers Contract Will Hike Pay to Over $50 Per Hour
New Jersey Transit 's newly inked deal with its locomotive engineers would boost pay to more than $50 an hour, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. The starting hourly wage for NJ Transit engineers has been about $39.78 an hour, their union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said previously. The hike would bring the wages more in line with those at Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad. The union had been seeking parity with those neighboring agencies.
Fast Company
19-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
New Jersey's transit union reaches ‘fair and fiscally responsible' deal to end 3-day strike
New Jersey Transit's train engineers reached a tentative deal Sunday to end their three-day strike that had halted service for some 100,000 daily riders, including routes to Newark airport and across the Hudson River to New York City. The union said its members would return to work on Tuesday, when trains would resume their regular schedules. The walkout that began Friday was the state's first transit strike in over 40 years, forcing people who normally rely on New Jersey Transit to take buses, cars, taxis and boats instead or consider staying home. The main sticking point had been how to accomplish a wage increase for the engineers without creating a financially disastrous domino effect for the transit agency. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen initially announced regular train service would begin again Monday, but moments later, union spokesperson Jamie Horwitz said NJ Transit informed them that it would be Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. instead. A transit agency statement said the Tuesday start was necessary because 'it takes approximately 24 hours to inspect and prepare the infrastructure before returning to full scheduled service.' A union statement sent by email said the terms of the agreement would be sent to the union's 450 members who work as locomotive engineers or trainees at the passenger railroad. 'While I won't get into the exact details of the deal reached, I will say that the only real issue was wages and we were able to reach an agreement that boosts hourly pay beyond the proposal rejected by our members last month and beyond where we were when NJ Transit's managers walked away from the table Thursday evening,' said Tom Haas, the union's general chairman at NJ Transit. He added that the union was able to show management 'ways to boost engineers' wages … without causing any significant budget issue or requiring a fare increase.' The union statement also said the deal would be submitted for a ratification vote by the national union and would require a vote of the New Jersey Transit board at its next regularly scheduled meeting on June 11. NJ Transit's board also has to approve the deal. 'To offer the understatement of the year, this is a very good outcome,' New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said at a Sunday evening news conference. He commended the two sides for finding an agreement that is 'both fair to NJ Transit's employees while also being affordable for our state's commuters and taxpayers.' NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri didn't provide details of the deal, but said it was 'fair and fiscally responsible.' He thanked the union for negotiating in good faith. 'The deal itself reflects a series of concessions that came together by way of a work bill that will eventually end up paying for this fair wage that the union has asked for,' Kolluri said at the news conference. Buses would be provided on Monday, but Murphy and Kolluri both urged commuters, if possible, to work from home for one more day. 'Please do that tomorrow so we can move essential employees through the system,' Kolluri said. A month earlier, members of the union had overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management. NJ Transit — the nation's third-largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halted all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York City's Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently. Mark Wallace, the union's national president, had said NJ Transit needs to pay engineers a wage that's comparable to Amtrak and Long Island Railroad because some are leaving for jobs on those other railroads for better pay. The union had said its members have been earning an average salary of $113,000 a year and it wanted to see an agreement for an average salary of $170,000. NJ Transit leadership, though, disputed the union's data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BLET, New Jersey Transit reach tentative agreement, ending three-day strike
May 18 (UPI) -- Negotiators from the state of New Jersey and the union representing hundreds of locomotive engineers announced they reached a tentative agreement on Sunday, ending the first statewide transit strike in four decades. Terms of the agreement were not made public, but the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union had sought a pay raise for its 450 members. BLET said in a statement that the agreement will be sent to its members and its specifics will be publicized after they've had a chance to review it. "While I won't get into the exact details of the deal reached, I will say that the only real issue was wages, and we were able to reach an agreement that boosts hourly pay beyond the proposal rejected by our members last month and beyond where we were when NJ Transit's managers walked away from the table Thursday evening," said Tom Haas, BLET's general chairman at NJ Transit. The union went on strike Friday at 12:01 a.m. after negotiations abruptly ended hours earlier. An agreement to prevent a strike had been reached by the union and NJ Transit in late March but members voted 87% against it in mid-April. It was the first statewide transit strike in 42 years. The office of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy confirmed in a statement that rail transit will resume in the state, with regular weekday train service to start Tuesday, as inspections and other maintenance work following the work stoppage will take about 24 hours to complete. "This agreement reflects the commitment of both the BLET and NJ Transit to remain at the table engaging in productive conversations, and I commend them both," Murphy said. "Most importantly, it ensures the resumption of rail service for the 100,000 people who depend on our rail system on a daily basis." The tentative agreement must next be ratified by BLET members and approved by the NJ Transit Board of Directors. The main issue that held up negotiators was pay. BLET had said that its members were the lowest paid of all locomotive engineers working for a major commuter railroad in the nation and that it was seeking a comparable wage for its 450 members. Ahead of the strike, NJ Transit estimated that more than 350,000 daily riders would be negatively affected by the work stoppage. The Partnership for New York City has estimated that every hour commuters are delayed getting to work due to NJ Transit rail being out of service costs New York City employers nearly $6 million.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Train strike ends after snarling New York travel
Train service in New Jersey will resume Tuesday after striking transit workers and officials came to a tentative agreement following several days of mass misery for New York area commuters. Train engineers seeking higher pay went on the first statewide transit strike in more than 40 years on Friday at a minute after midnight as contract talks fell apart. Many area commuters were caught unaware and left scrambling to get into nearby New York using other means of transportation such as Uber or Amtrak, the national rail system, both of which can be many multitudes more expensive. New Jersey Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced Sunday in separate statements that they had reached "a tentative agreement." But they warned that train service would not resume for approximately 24 hours, with the transit authority reporting that it needed the time "to inspect and prepare tracks, rail cars and other infrastructure before returning to full scheduled service." Neither side provided details of the agreement. BLET said the terms would be sent for consideration to the union's 450 members who work as locomotive engineers or are trainees, with details and figures to be disclosed publicly after the members are able to review them. The union said it has been locked in a years-long dispute with NJ Transit, with its members going five years without a raise. BLET workers had picketed outside rail stations, with many waving signs that accused NJ Transit executives of treating themselves to expensive perks while train drivers' wages lagged behind those of colleagues in other areas of the country. NJ Transit officials, however, have said the wage hike requested by the union would end up costing the company and taxpayers millions. bfm/rsc
Bloomberg
19-05-2025
- General
- Bloomberg
NYC Bankers Living in NJ Face Monday Chaos Even After Rail Deal
New Jersey commuters were left to improvise plans for Monday even after negotiators reached a deal to end a three-day strike that halted rail service to New York. The deal reached Sunday with the union for New Jersey Transit locomotive engineers didn't allow enough time for service to resume Monday, officials said, citing the need for 24 hours to inspect tracks and equipment. Full operations are expected to restart Tuesday.
