Officials did not divulge details of the contract, which averts a strike that could have started March 22, but said it includes a wage hike. (Fran Baltzer for New Jersey Monitor)
NJ Transit and a union representing the agency’s locomotive engineers announced a tentative agreement that will resolve a yearslong contract dispute that threatened to boil over into disruptive strikes later this month.
Officials revealed few details about the agreement when they announced it Monday, and the accord must still be ratified by members of the New Jersey Transit Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the agency, and Gov. Phil Murphy.
“We believe this agreement not only reflects NJ Transit’s commitment to fairness, efficiency, innovation, and long-term financial sustainability — but it ensures uninterrupted rail service for the 100,000 people who depend on it,” NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri and BLET general chairman Thomas Haas said in a joint statement.
They said the agreement “provides a reasonable wage increase for BLET members” and resolves a separate dispute and grievance. A spokesperson for the union did not immediately return comment.
The deal was first reported by northjersey.com.
The locomotive engineers’ contract has been expired since late 2019, and negotiations have stalled for years over a wage dispute.
NJ Transit sought to increase the engineers’ pay in line with the agency’s other bargaining units, a practice called pattern bargaining, but engineers argued their pay should reflect that of train engineers at other transit agencies and account for locomotive engineers’ strict training and stressful work environment.
Union officials credited Kolluri, who took helm of the agency on Jan. 16, for helping to bridge the impasse.
“Having the new NJ Transit President & CEO Kris Kolluri at the bargaining table brought a new perspective to the issues that were in dispute. With his assistance, we were able to reach a tentative agreement worthy for the membership to vote on,” said BLET national vice president James Louis.
The agreement, reached on March 6 and announced Monday, is set to avert a disruptive transit strike that would have snarled trains across the agency’s rail lines as early as March 22.
Because rail strikes can significantly disrupt commerce, they are subject to greater regulation than job actions in other industries.
The federal Railway Labor Act sets the process for those negotiations, and it would have allowed the union to begin striking after a final 60-day cooling off period that ended on March 22. But the tentative deal does not altogether foreclose the chance of a job action.
The union’s members will vote on whether to ratify the contract next month, and NJ Transit’s board will weigh the deal at its first meeting following that ratification. If they approve it, Gov. Phil Murphy has 10 days to veto the agreement.
The union could strike if the board or governor move to block the agreement, subject to a 30-day cool off period.
A strike at NJ Transit would be the first in more than 40 years.
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