Alright, so here’s the deal – the New Jersey Transit train engineers said, “Nope,” to the labor agreement with management. And guess what that means? Yep, you guessed it – a strike could be on the horizon. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen didn’t just reject the deal, they straight-up said, “No thanks,” by a whopping 87%. That’s a big ol’ margin, if you ask me. According to the union, the Railway Labor Act gives them the green light to strike or for NJ Transit’s management to lock ’em out come May 15. It’s like a ticking time bomb, you know?
The union chief, Tom Haas, didn’t hold back – he said, “Our members are angry.” And honestly, who can blame ’em? These folks have been busting their butts, keeping those trains chugging along, with no raise since 2019. That’s rough, especially with inflation sky-high and the pandemic wreaking havoc on everyone. NJ Transit’s big boss, Kris Kolluri, was pretty bummed that the agreement got the cold shoulder. He’s all about getting back to the bargaining table and hashing out a deal that’s fair for everyone. Because let’s face it, nobody wants to see the trains grind to a halt.
As for the nitty-gritty details of the agreement? Well, they’re a bit murky. All we know is that there was talk of a “reasonable wage increase” for the union peeps and some old beef getting squashed. Kolluri only started calling the shots in January, so he’s pretty new to the job. And let’s not forget about good ol’ Joe Biden swooping in last summer with an executive order to try and sort this mess out. Back then, NJ Transit was already sounding the alarm about a possible strike in March 2025.
In case you didn’t know, New Jersey Transit is a big deal. They run buses and trains all over the state, hauling about 925,000 folks to and fro each weekday, including those NYC-bound commuters. This whole labor dispute has been brewing since 2019 when the engineers’ contract went kaput. So yeah, things are definitely heating up on the tracks. Let’s hope they can iron out their differences before it all goes off the rails.
