NJ Transit, largest union reach tentative contract deal as engineers' strike looms
NEW JERSEY (WPVI) -- NJ Transit and its largest union reached a tentative contract agreement, but the mass transit agency is still negotiating with the engineers' union to try to avert a walkout next week.
The agreement on Wednesday covers more than 5,500 employees represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU).
Specific details of the agreement were not released pending ATU leadership's notification of its members.
The mass transit agency is still negotiating with the engineers' union, BLET.
Those unionized employees are preparing for a walkout on May 16 if they don't get a new contract with a significant pay raise.
The engineers, who rejected a previous offer from the rail service, haven't had a raise since 2019.
Last week, the head of NJ Transit said the company and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen had a deal but it was rejected by the Union membership.
"Their view in my humble opinion, is neither reasonable nor affordable," NJ Transit Chairman Kris Kolluri said.
New Jersey Transit says the union wants a salary of $190,000 a year.
The union says base pay is $89,000.
The head of the union says his 425 members are paid 20% less than other regional train engineers.
"We can step across the platform in New York and go to work for Amtrak and make $10 an hour more," said General Chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Tom Haas.
If the strike occurs, they will run extra park and ride bus service from Secaucus Junction, the PNC Arts Center on the Parkway, Woodbridge Center Mall and Hamilton Rail Station.
These pick-up and drop-off locations focus on getting workers into and out of New York City.
"For those folks who can afford to work from home, should the strike become a reality, we ask them to work from home," Kolluri said.
Passengers are being urged to buy daily passes through May and will see signs with a bar code posted at stations so they can stay updated on the possibility of a strike.
