New Jersey Transit train engineers went on strike Friday, leaving an estimated in New Jersey and New York City to seek other means to reach their destinations or consider staying home.
The walkout comes after the latest round of negotiations on Thursday didn鈥檛 produce an agreement. It is the state鈥檚 first transit strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected .
鈥淲e presented them the last proposal; they rejected it and walked away with two hours left on the clock," said Tom Haas, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri described the situation as a 鈥減ause in the conversations.鈥�
鈥淚 certainly expect to pick back up these conversations as soon as possible,鈥� he said late Thursday during a joint news conference with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e willing to meet tonight, I鈥檒l meet them again tonight. If they want to meet tomorrow morning, I鈥檒l do it again. Because I think this is an imminently workable problem. The question is, do they have the willingness to come to a solution.鈥�
Murphy said it was important to 鈥渞each a final deal that is both fair to employees and at the same time affordable to New Jersey鈥檚 commuters and taxpayers.鈥�
"Again, we cannot ignore the agency鈥檚 fiscal realities,鈥� Murphy said.
The announcement came after 15 hours of non-stop contract talks, according to the union. Picket lines are expected to start at 4 a.m. Friday.
鈥� the nation鈥檚 third-largest transit system 鈥� operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halts all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York City鈥檚 Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the , which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.
The agency had announced contingency plans in recent days, saying it planned to increase bus service, but that the buses would only add 鈥渧ery limited鈥� capacity to existing New York commuter bus routes in close proximity to rail stations and would not start running until Monday. The agency also will contract with private carriers to operate bus service from key regional park-and-ride locations during weekday peak periods.
However, the agency noted that the buses would not be able to handle close to the same number of passengers 鈥� only about 20% of current rail customers 鈥� so it urged people who could work from home to do so if there was a strike.
Even the threat of it had already caused travel disruptions. Amid the uncertainty, the transit agency canceled train and bus service for Shakira concerts Thursday and Friday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The parties met Monday with a federal mediation board in Washington to discuss the matter, and a mediator was present during Thursday鈥檚 talks. Kolluri said Thursday night that the mediation board has suggested a Sunday morning meeting to resume talks.
Wages have been the main sticking point of the negotiations between the agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen that wants to see its members earn wages comparable to other passenger railroads in the area. The union says its members earn an average salary of $113,000 a year and says an agreement could be reached if agency CEO Kris Kolluri agrees to an average yearly salary of $170,000.
NJ Transit leadership, though, disputes the union鈥檚 data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000.
Kolluri and Murphy said Thursday night that the problem isn鈥檛 so much whether both sides can agree to a wage increase, but whether they can do so under terms that wouldn鈥檛 then trigger other unions to demand similar increases and create a financially unfeasible situation for NJ Transit.
Congress has the power to intervene and block the strike and force the union to accept a deal, but lawmakers have not shown a willingness to do that this time like they did in 2022 a national freight railroad strike.
The union has seen steady attrition in its ranks at NJ Transit as more of its members leave to take better-paying jobs at other railroads. The number of NJ Transit engineers has shrunk from 500 several months ago to about 450 today.
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Associated Press reporters Hallie Golden in Seattle and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.
Bruce Shipkowski, The Associated Press
