The strike leaves lots of of 1000’s of commuters in New Jersey and New York with out rail entry.
New Jersey’s commuter rail engineers are on strike after negotiations for increased wages did not materialise, leaving trains idle for commuters within the third-largest transit system in the US for the primary time in additional than 40 years.
The strike started on Friday after The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, which represents 450 NJ Transit engineers who drive the company’s commuter trains and company administration, broke off talks late Thursday after an unsuccessful 15-hour bargaining session.
The labour conflict got here weeks after negotiators had agreed on a possible deal in March, however the union’s members voted overwhelmingly to reject it.
NJ Transit has stated it can’t afford the pay rises that the engineers are in search of as a result of 14 different unions that negotiate separate labour contracts with the company would demand the identical, increased wage charges for his or her members.
The union pushed again on the gripe and has stated that “NJT claims it doesn’t have the cash to pay engineers a wage according to trade requirements, however in some way discovered a half-billion {dollars} for a brand new and pointless headquarters.”
New Jersey Transit opened a brand new headquarters earlier this yr.
The union has stated it’s merely aiming to lift the engineers’ salaries to match these at different commuter railroads within the area.
“They [rail engineers] have gone with no increase for six years and have been in search of a brand new contract since October 2019,” the union stated in a press release.
NJ Transit says the engineers at present make $135,000 on common and that administration had supplied a deal that may yield a median wage of $172,000. However the union has disputed these figures, saying the present common wage is definitely $113,000.
The events have exchanged accusations of bad-faith bargaining.
The strike signifies that lots of of 1000’s of day by day passengers in New Jersey and New York are with out service. NJ Transit stated its rail system started its shutdown at 12:01am native time Friday.
In a information convention, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and NJ Transit’s Chief Government Officer Kris Kolluri instructed reporters talks had paused however that administration remained prepared to renew negotiations at any time.
“We should attain a ultimate deal that’s each truthful to workers and reasonably priced,” Murphy, a Democrat, instructed reporters. “Let’s get again to the desk and seal a deal.”
Murphy and Kolluri stated the US Nationwide Mediation Board had reached out to either side to suggest reopening talks on Sunday morning, or sooner if the events wished.
The union assertion made no point out of when talks may be restarted. Protests started at a number of areas throughout the rail system, together with NJ Transit’s headquarters in Newark, Penn Station in New York Metropolis, and the Atlantic Metropolis rail terminal.
The governor and the NJ Transit CEO additionally outlined contingency plans for coping with the work stoppage, the primary transit strike to hit New Jersey since a three-week walkout in 1983.
Employees urged to remain house
The looming strike had already prompted the company to cancel trains and buses to MetLife Stadium for pop star Shakira’s live performance final night time and once more for this night.
In an advisory, NJ Transit inspired commuters to work at home beginning on Friday if doable.
The company stated it will enhance bus providers on current strains and constitution non-public buses to function from a number of satellite tv for pc tons within the occasion of a rail strike however warned buses would solely be capable of deal with about 20 % of rail prospects.
Kolluri stated final week that the union was “taking part in a recreation of rooster with the lives of 350,000 riders”.
“We now have sought nothing greater than equal pay for equal work, solely to be frequently rebuffed by New Jersey Transit,” Tom Haas, the union’s common chairman, stated earlier this week.
