New Jersey Transit train engineers have officially started their strikes, turn off the commuter train and leave hundreds of thousands of passengers scramble to find other modes of transportation.
Members of the Union of Locomotive Engineers and Trainment (BLET) have threatened to strike unless the NJ transit officials and trade unions can approve new contract terms and conditions for workers who drive trains.
The agreement was close but not achieved, according to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, produced all the New Jersey transit commuter trains and MTA Metro-North Barat Hudson The service to stop running when the strike starts at 12:01 in the morning on Friday.
The electronic display gives advice to the passengers of the potential interference with the NJ transit service at the Secaucus Junction Station in Secaucus, NJ, Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
Seth Wenig/AP
On Thursday, both parties met again for 11 hours negotiations to avoid strikes, in addition to meetings in Washington, DC Monday with the National Mediation Council, but no resolution was achieved.
During a press conference on Thursday night, CEO Murphy and NJ Transit Kris Kolluri encouraged passengers to work from home on Friday.
“If you can work from home, of course tomorrow, and you out there watching it will be a very good day to do it,” Murphy said.
Kolluri said Thursday night there was an agreement that could be achieved and negotiations were not “missing goals.” They are expected to continue negotiations on Sunday morning, according to Kolluri.
After the New Jersey Transit Council meeting on Wednesday, Kolluri told reporters that he was “confident and optimistic” about their efforts to avoid strikes.
“I will stay at the negotiation table as long as it is needed,” Kolluri said. “If it takes two for Tango, I think if we can all focus on the tasks, namely to get a fair and affordable agreement, I think we can avoid strikes.”
National President Blet Mark Wallace said during a press conference on May 9 that it had been five years since the train engineer working for NJ Transit had received a salary increase.
“People who make sense will choose a fair agreement,” Wallace said.
People get off the NJ transit commuter train after arriving at the Transit Terminal, November 2, 2022, in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Gary Hershorn/ABC News
Tom Haas, the general chairman for Blet, said that during the same press conference that the engineers who worked for NJ transit received an average salary of $ 113,000 per year. If the CEO of New Jersey Transit Kris Kolluri approves the average salary of $ 170,000 per year for engineers operators, then “we get an agreement,” Haas said.
“NJ transit locomotive engineers already have a total income of $ 135,000 per year, with the highest recipient exceeding $ 200,000,” according to A statement On the New Jersey transit website about negotiations with BLET.
During the press conference separately on May 9, Kolluri responded to the union argument, saying Haas previously agreed with the wage increase to $ 49.82 per hour but later demanded a higher wage because he thought there was a “better pot at the end of the rainbow.”
“I can’t continue to give money to the left and right to solve the problem. Everything goes down, who will pay for this? Money does not grow on a tree,” Kolluri said.
ABC news requests were sent to NJ Transit and The Blet to comment on the statements of Wallace, Haas and Kolluri about the salary increase of claims did not receive responses.
Nj transit states that if they are was to accept blet’s terms, it would cost both them and new jersey taxpayers $ 1,363 billion between July 2025 and June 2030 would be $ 4 million per day, nj transit claim.
Metro-North President Justin Vonashek announced the transit option for Port Jervis Line customers and Pascack Valley Line if there was a transit strike next week, May 8, 2025, in Tarrytown, New York.
Tania Savayan/Westchester County News Journal via USA Today network via Imagn Images
Transit officials NJ have said The strike will “interfere with the lives of more than 350,000 passengers” and develop a Emergency Plan That includes adding “a very limited capacity for the New York commuter bus route near the train station and contracting with private operators to operate bus services” for passengers who usually depend on the train.
But even with expanded bus services, NJ Transit said that “estimates that it can only carry around 20% of the current train customers” because the bus system does not have the capacity to replace the commuter train service.
Xuan Sharon DI, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University, told ABC News before the strike began that it could be a “disaster” for traffic in Manhattan due to the increase in buses and car traffic to cities from commuter that could not take trains. There will also be additional penalties from passengers to Manhattan who have to pay new -this is enforced Traffic jam price.
“New Jersey Transit is the backbone for people who live in New Jersey to move. This is actually surprising for me,” said at ABC News about the prospect of strikes.
Steven Chien, professor of civil engineering and environmental at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, said that many of his colleagues used NJ transit to travel and that strikes would “paralyze the vital transportation arteries in our region.”