by Nikita Biryukov, New Jersey Monitor
January 29, 2025
The union that represents NJ Transit’s train engineers has rejected a settlement recommended by a federal board overseeing its wage dispute with the state transit agency, clearing the path to a possible strike in March.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen’s rejection of the proposed settlement is the latest step in a labor fight between the carrier and its engineers that has been running since NJ Transit engineers’ previous contract lapsed in 2019. And though federal law will maintain status quo for a time, engineers could launch a strike as early as March 22.
The union is set to meet Thursday with Kris Kolluri, the new NJ Transit CEO and president.
“We hope that the new guard, under the direction of NJ Transit President & CEO Kris Kolluri, will choose to avoid a disruption in service by meeting with the union and working out a fair agreement that will keep the trains moving,” said Eddie Hall, the union’s national president.
Wages lie at the root of the feud. NJ Transit engineers have sought a 14% wage hike for the 2028 fiscal year that would, after a series of smaller increases in the intervening years that are not in dispute, bring their wages to $55.79 per hour. The agency has proposed a 4% increase that year that would leave engineers’ hourly rate at $50.89.
The union said the larger increase is necessary to match engineer wages at NJ Transit with compensation at other transportation agencies and because high inflation between 2021 and 2023 had reduced their pay in real terms despite scheduled wage hikes.
The federal board overseeing the dispute — a presidential emergency board first convened by the Biden administration last year — found that engineers at Amtrak, the Long Island Railroad, and the Metro-North Commuter Railroad earned at least $10 more per hour than their counterparts at NJ Transit, despite the substantial similarity between their work.
But wage differentials between NJ Transit and some other carriers are smaller. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority engineers, who work on trains running into and around Philadelphia, were paid roughly 10% less than their counterparts at NJ Transit, the board found.
NJ Transit has defended its proposed wage increases and its broader practice of pattern bargaining, which seeks to issue similar terms across bargaining units to create stability and uniformity in public pay.
“We remain committed to reaching a resolution that is both fair and sustainable for NJ TRANSIT, the hard-working men and women of the BLET, and New Jersey taxpayers. We look forward to constructive discussions with our labor partners in the days ahead,” Kolluri said in a statement last week.
The agency did not return a request for comment Thursday.
In a report to the president, the emergency board said NJ Transit’s offer was the most reasonable one presented. It said engineers’ arguments in favor of a 14% wage hike in fiscal year 2028 were insufficient to justify an increase of that size.
Though the board acknowledged wage differentials between NJ Transit and comparable railroads, it noted those disparities were long-standing and, in some cases, had existed for more than 40 years.
They said the pay increases proposed from 2020 through 2027 would not have resulted in proportionally lower pay for NJ Transit engineers. Instead, those hikes would “simply have perpetuated long-standing differences in rates of pay,” the board said.
The board acknowledged the 4% increase NJ Transit proposed for fiscal year 2028 seems “too low for a reasonable voluntary resolution of this matter,” but it said that number lay closer to being a reasonable wage increase than the 14% hike sought by engineers.
It’s not clear whether the dispute will boil over into a strike in March. Because railway strikes can affect interstate commerce significantly more than labor actions in most industries, they are governed by labor rules stricter than those imposed on other sectors, and federal lawmakers have the ability to halt railway strikes in their tracks.
Former President Joe Biden signed legislation in December 2022 that imposed a labor agreement on four unions at large freight rail carriers, averting a strike that could have affected overland shipping just before the holiday season.
Because NJ Transit is a commuter railway, a strike would not have the same impact on shipping, but it could still snarl commerce if workers are left unable to reach their jobs because of a stoppage.
It’s not clear whether President Donald Trump will urge Congress to intervene, as Biden did in 2022. Leaders at the International Longshoremen’s Alliance credited Trump’s intervention for averting a disruptive shipping strike earlier this month.
New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: [email protected].
Be the first to comment