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The engineers of the New Jersey Transit went on strike early on Friday, putting the trains on the third suburban rail service in the country.
A last day of negotiations between the suburban rail service managed by the State and the brotherhood of locomotive engineers and trains (BET) failed to conclude an 11th hour agreement to prevent a strike.
The work stoppage is about to seriously embarrass some 100,000 daily shuthers, companies in the New York metropolitan region and Shakira and Beyoncé fans, who will find it difficult to go to the concerts, the two stars have planned in a football stadium just outside Manhattan In the coming days.
The talks between the two parties ended slightly before 10 p.m. Thursday, according to the CEO of the Union and the NJ Transit, Kris Kolluri, who participated in a press conference Thursday evening with the governor of NJ Phil Murphy.
Kolluri told the press conference Thursday evening that the two parties had been about to conclude an agreement but could not reach an agreement on a set of wages which, depending on the state and the NJ transit, the management is affordable. He said that the two parties should return to the negotiating table on Sunday morning and that he is ready to return to the front table, if the union is ready to do so.
Kolluri and Murphy both declared that they wanted a fair agreement for the members of the union, but not that where unions requests would cause financial problems for the railway.
A previous provisional work agreement had been rejected by 87% of nearly 500 members of the union who drive trains. Although this agreement would have given workers their first increase since 2019 and thousands of dollars in the cornerstone for each member of the union, he would have always left members far from the remuneration of Amtrak engineers and the nearby suburban railways who use the same stations.
“NJ Transit has half a billion dollars for a new chic headquarters and $ 53 million for the decoration of the interior of this unnecessary building,” said national president of Blet, Mark Wallace, in a statement. “They gave $ 20 million in revenue during a vacation at a price last year. They have money for penthouse views and pet projects, but not for their front -line workers. Just. We will stay away until our members receive the equitable salary they deserve. ”
NJ Transit officials said they had increased the bus service in anticipation of the strike, but the buses admitted would be able to manage only an “extremely limited number” of shuttle. The agency and Murphy have urged the shuttles that set up its trains to make other plans or work at home, if possible. NJ Transit said commuters should limit travel on the rest of the system to “essential” purposes only.
“If you can work at home, certainly tomorrow (Friday) … would be a very good day to do so,” said Murphy.
Murphy said that even if engineers are a backbone of the state’s public transport system, “workers and families that rely on our public transport system every day are the backbone of our entire economy.”
In addition to the congestion of traffic which will probably obstruct the bridges and tunnels which extend over the Hudson river accordingly, many commuters to Manhattan will be struck by a toll of “congestion pricing” which can reach $ 9 in addition to the tolls of bridges and tunnel which can cost more than twice this amount.
Beyond the daily shuttlers going mainly to and from Manhattan, the strike could cause enormous problems for spectators. Shakira is expected to perform on Friday evening at the Metlife Stadium, located in New Jersey less than 10 miles from the Lincoln tunnel which connects the state to Manhattan, and Beyoncé should perform there for a series of five shows from next Thursday.
NJ Transit had already canceled the special Shakira service on Thursday evening, fans of concern could be blocked after the start of the strike.
Spectators who go to the Shakira or Beyoncé shows could find themselves stuck in a worse traffic than normal, because potential train passengers are forced on the roads.
The union argued that its members need a significant increase to align them other Engineers from other passenger railways and that members would accept nothing less.
“We, the engineers of NJ Transit locomotive, only ask for a fair and competitive salary,” said Thomas Haas, president of the union unit representing the 450 railway engineers, in NOIKS Wednesday evening before the meeting of the Board of Directors of NJ Transit. “The last thing we want to see is that (the service) is interrupted. But we are at the end of our rope. ”
The union claims that its current contract requests would only cost $ 4 million more per year compared to the previous contract supply rejected by members. A strike, she added, will cost more to the railway than to respect the union’s offer.
But Kolluri said that if NJ Transit accepted Blet’s request, she should offer The same salary increases to other unions under “me too” clauses in their own work agreements. Murphy said these clauses would increase additional costs by less than $ 10 million a year to more than $ 100 million a year for the agency, and that he could not afford to pay this amount.
“I told them that I respect the offer they put on the table,” said Kolluri. “I respect the fact that we got closer to reaching a salary rate to which they think they are entitled. Where we could not fill the gap, it is this clause “me too”. ”
Kolluri said he was still thinking that an agreement can be concluded soon to end the strike. “It’s not a lost cause,” he said. “This is an imminent case achievable.”
Blet also said that the contract rejected by members would have left their salary about 20% behind that of engineers in Amtrak and three other suburban railways: Long Island Railroad, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (Septa) and Metro North, which serves the suburbs north of New York.
This is part of the reason why the union says it continues to lose members. Membership went from 500 to the start of the year to 450 while members leave the NJ transit for these other railways. And this loss of engineers is also expensive, according to the union.
He indicates that it takes two years of training at $ 250,000 each to replace those who leave, while NJ Transit will be forced to cancel the trains due to the lack of engineers. NJ Transit insists that he has sufficient personnel to use the full calendar of the railway.
The railways operate under an Arcane centenary law, the law on the work of railways, which controls labor relations on railways and airlines, considerably limiting the union’s ability to strike. Even when the members of a union reject a contract, as happened in this case, they may be condemned to stay at work and accept the terms of the agreement by an act of congress.
This is what occurred in December 2022, when the congress voted in favor of an agreement rejected by the majority of the more than 100,000 union members who work in the four large freight railways in the country.
But the congress may not feel obliged to act in the case of a single suburban railway. Although the Congress did not allow the Nation freight railways to have a strike longer than a few hours, there have been many suburban railway strikes that have been extended for weeks, or even months, without action of the congress to end it. Until now, no legislation has been introduced that would block or end a strike, so that any action in the congress would take time.
In 1983, the members of the New Jersey Transit union were on strike for a month. Still in the 1980s, there were strikes which lasted 108 days at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (Septa), for 42 days at Metro North and 11 days in the Long Island Railroad.
This story is updated with additional reports and context.
