NJ Transit strike has its roots in the hapless – Latest News
New Jersey commuters awoke to a journey nightmare Friday as NJ Transit engineers went on strike in pursuit of a windfall wage hike.
And so simply 450 employees are slamming the 100,000 or so riders who depend on the railroad to get to and from their jobs.
Worse, by their union’s reckoning the demand is for a close to 50% raise: The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen claims its members earn an average of $113,000, but they’re holding out for $170,000 — arguing that they need to be on par with their Metro-North and LIRR friends.
NJ Transit has failed to succeed in an settlement with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union, ensuing in the first main transit strike to hit New Jersey since 1983. REUTERS
NJT calculates that the average (together with additional time) is $135,000 now, which nonetheless means the demand is for a hike above 25% — despite the fact that the railroad is already operating in the purple (similar to the state finances).
And NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri is apprehensive not merely about the price of assembly the Brotherhood’s calls for, however the certainty that the different NJT unions will insist on matching pay will increase, backed by their own strike threats: “financial doom,” he calls it.
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That would add up to $1.3 billion in new prices, forcing a fare hike of a minimum of 17% on the heels of final 12 months’s hefty bounce in ticket costs.
“What the people of New Jersey need right now is for the members to meet their obligations to the public,” fumed Gov. Phil Murphy.
Good luck with that, Phil — and a lot for all of your vows to lastly straighten out NJ Transit.
A ‘Rail Service Suspended’ signal at Secaucus Junction Station, New Jersey, during a transit strike on May 16, 2025, attributable to a pay dispute. AFP through Getty Images
To be honest, the railroad might level fingers at the MTA, which for years (beneath orders from New York politicians) has handed hefty wage hikes to the unions representing Metro-North and Long Island Railroad employees with out profitable work-rule adjustments or different productiveness features.
But that doesn’t make the Jersey union’s calls for any much less outrageous.
It’s a contest of wills now: Will Murphy fold (and so hand the complications on to the successor to be elected this fall), or discover a solution to rally enough public help to stare down the Brotherhood’s blackmail?
