NJ Transit locomotive engineers are now on strike.
The system began a safe shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Friday, May 16. Trains did not begin new trips past 12:01 a.m.; however, trains already en route past midnight finished their trips.
The strike comes after a tentative agreement was reached on March 10 that the leadership of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen previously called “fair and responsible.” BLET is the only one of NJ Transit’s 15 rail unions that has not signed the initial pattern bargaining agreement.
“Over the past several weeks and months, we have been working around the clock to avoid this strike and keep NJ TRANSIT operating at full capacity,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in a release. “As always, our single-highest priority has always been to provide the best possible service to our state’s commuters and taxpayers.
“This strike will upend the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans. My message tonight to our locomotive engineers is this: the path to a new contract will be paved at the negotiating table, not the picket line,” Murphy added. “Ultimately, it is the people of New Jersey who will suffer because of this strike. I am calling on our locomotive engineers to remain at the negotiating table to reach a fair and affordable deal so we can get the trains moving again as soon as possible and avoid raising costs on riders and taxpayers.”
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