Some 350,000 travelers working in New Jersey and New York City could soon be fighting for other ways to reach their destinations if New Jersey traffic engineers leave work on early Friday.
NJ Transit, the third largest traffic system in the country, operates buses and railways in the state, providing almost 1 million trips from Monday to Friday, even in New York City. A strike would stop all Transit near trains of NJ, which provide public transport routes widely used between the Penn station of New York City on one side of the Hudson River and communities in the north of New Jersey in the other and the other Newark airportwhich has dealt with unrelated delays recently.
Salaries and working conditions have been the main conflict points of negotiations between the agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive and Train Engineers. The union states that its members earn an average salary of $ 113,000 per year and says that an agreement could be reached if the agency’s CEO, Kris Kolluri, agrees an average annual salary of $ 170,000.
However, NJ Transit leadership disputes the union data, saying that engineers have average total earnings of $ 135,000 annually, with the highest winners exceed $ 200,000.
“I can’t continue giving money to the left and right to solve a problem,” Koluri said recently. “Everything is reduced to, who is going to pay for this? Money does not grow in trees.”
Tom Haas, the general president of the union, said that NJ Transit has adopted an “Take or leave it” approach for salaries during negotiations.
“We have not sought anything more than salary equality for the same work, only to be continuously rejected by New Jersey traffic,” said Haas during a press conference on Friday. “New Jersey traffic engineers want to keep trains in motion, but the simple fact is that trains do not work without engineers.”
If the strike occurs, it would be the first state traffic strike in more than 40 years.
If engineers leave work, the agency Plans to increase bus serviceSaying that it would add a “very limited” capacity to the existing vicinity bus routes in New York, very close to railway stations and hire with private operators to operate the bus service from key locations of regional parks and trips during peak periods from Monday to Friday.
However, the agency indicates that buses could not handle near the same number of passengers, only about 20% of current rail clients, so it has urged people who can work from home to do so if there is a strike.
The potential blow is already causing some interruptions. On Monday, NJ Transit said that the trains or bus service will not operate to the Metlife stadium for the Shakira concerts scheduled for Thursday and Friday, and that it is not yet clear if it will provide service to Beyonce fans who plan to attend their programmed programs in Metlife from May 22 to 29.
If a strike occurs, NJ Transit has said that rented buses will extend from four satellite lots throughout the state to the bus terminal of the Port Authority in Manhattan or the Path trains stations in North Jersey, starting Monday. The PATH system is operated by a subsidiary of the New York Port Authority and New Jersey and its services would not be affected by the potential strike.
Up to 1,000 passengers are on a complete train every day, and approximately 70,000 travelers take trains every day. NJ Transit says that each rented bus could only transport about 100 passengers, and no bus would work on the first day of a possible strike.
Officials expect some trains clients to change to existing traffic buses NJ or use rented carriers. Others may choose to lead New York City, where they would have to pay congestion price rates.
The possible strike takes A labor agreement with management. Both parties had previously said that the tentative agreement included a “reasonable salary increase” for union members, as well as the resolution of a long -standing complaint.
Kolluri has said that the offer would have raised the average annual payment of full -time engineers at $ 172,000 of $ 135,000, but union leaders say that these figures were inflated.
Since that proposal was rejected, the two parties have changed the blows on the labor dispute, which dates back to 2019, when the engineers contract expired. Union leaders say that trains engineers have gone without an increase in the last five years and only look for salary parity with engineers who work for other rail agencies.
The parties met Monday with a Federal Mediation Board in Washington to discuss the dispute, but both the parties and the Board have refused to comment on some progress or if more conversations have been scheduled.
New Jersey governor, Phil Murphy, a Democrat, says that all options are on the table if a strike occurs, including the statement of an emergency state. However, the governor remains optimistic, an agreement can be reached.
