New Jersey’s first main rail strike in 4 a long time turned extra probably this week when talks between NJ Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers broke down.
“New Jersey transit had rejected our last offer and they walked away from the table,” mentioned Tom Haas, the union’s chairman.
Haas mentioned the railroad has overstated the quantity paid to its engineers. NJ Transit insists the typical pay is $135,000; the union has mentioned it’s nearer to $105,000.
However NJ Transit’s management mentioned the union seems to have moved the goalposts.
“I gave them what they wanted,” mentioned Kris Kolluri, NJ Transit’s CEO, testifying right this moment at a state senate funds listening to in Trenton. “It sounds like they don’t want it anymore.”
Kolluri says the union had requested for parity with Lengthy Island Railroad engineers at $49/per hour common pay, and that’s what they’ve been supplied. However the union says competing railroads truly pay considerably greater than that.
The stalemate over wages threatens to go away 300,000 riders within the lurch, regardless of contingency plans that promise shuttle buses from key hubs like Secaucus Junction and the PNC Arts Heart.
“They’re not asking for something that’s absurd,” mentioned Nancy Visser, a day by day commuter from Warwick. “Just decent pay and decent benefits.”
With the specter of an engineer strike looming, NJ Transit releases their contingency plan for commuters. NBC 4’s Pat Battle reviews from Maplewood, NJ.
If a strike occurs, it could probably be referred to as on the finish of the “deadline day” on Could sixteenth. That might iImpact service beginning on Monday, Could nineteenth.
The final strike at NJ Transit was in 1983. It lasted a couple of month.
Bruce Cantin, who takes the prepare from Fairlawn, contemplated uncomfortably the affect of a walkout.
“I certainly hope not for everybody’s sake,” he mentioned.
