NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said negotiations with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) are 95 percent done.
The BLET’s engineer strike that started at 12 a.m. on May 16 is crippling the NJ Transit (NJT) railway system, which serves 350,000 people daily, many of whom are commuting to and from New York City.
Murphy and Kolluri talked about the progress of negotiations with BLET at a morning press conference.
Kolluri said talks have been fruitful and that negotiations on May 15 ended on a conciliatory note.
“If you sort of look at this contract as a 100 percent deal, we’re 95 percent done,” he said.
Kolluri expressed his concern about the strike’s potential harm to the transit agency.
Just when we are in a position to say we have put this agency on a course toward fiscal stability we now are confronted with this existential problem,” he said.
“The unions are saying ‘Give us a fair deal, no matter what the cost.’ Well that second part is where we’re all hung up on. This is not about not giving them a fair wage. It’s about how do you do it in a fiscally responsible manner that doesn’t bankrupt New Jersey Transit and puts it on a death spiral like every other mass transit agency.”
Negotiations will continue on Sunday, as suggested by the National Mediation Board, which is overseeing the negotiations.
The strike hasn’t caused overcrowding on other train lines yet, according to Kolluri. Friday is a low ridership day, with trains seeing more customers Monday to Thursday.
The BLET union has said the average salary for NJ Transit engineers is $113,000, and they are seeking an increase to about $120,000 by 2027.
BLET says that NJT train engineers have not had a pay raise since 2019 and that NJ Transit engineers are the lowest-paid train engineers of any of the nation’s major passenger railways. BLET said its members shot down a new tentative wage agreement between it and NJ Transit in April, with 87 percent voting no.
BLET has 450 train engineers in its organization. Murphy said fewer than 400 are participating in the strike.
NJ Transit estimates that the BLET’s current demand would cost more than $1.36 billion over the next five years. The money would come from either a 17 percent fare increase or a systemwide reduction in service.
Tom Haas, general chairman of the BLET, disagreed that the raise would cost $1.36 billion and said it would amount to $4 million more per year than the last proposal by NJ Transit.
The BLET did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
