New Jersey rail strains stood silent for a second day Saturday as union members and state officers scheduled back-to-back conferences to hammer out a contract earlier than Monday’s rush hour commute.
NJ Transit President Kris Kolluri and N.J. Gov. Murphy have been scheduled to satisfy with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen on each Saturday and Sunday within the hopes of ending the strike earlier than Monday.
The union requested for the Saturday assembly, which was scheduled on the fly late Friday, Kolluri mentioned as he gave reporters an replace on contract negotiations. A Sunday assembly had been scheduled a couple of days earlier.
“The national president of locomotive engineers reached out to us for a meeting, and the governor and I promised to meet anytime and anywhere to see if we can get to a resolution,” Kolluri mentioned.
The NJ Transit ticket space at Penn Station is empty attributable to a strike by New Jersey Transit prepare engineers, in New York, Friday, Might 16, 2025. (AP Photograph/Richard Drew)
NJ Transit’s 450 engineers went on strike at 12 a.m. Friday, leaving an estimated 350,000 day by day commuters counting on NJ Transit buses to get to Manhattan.
Kolluri admitted that the NJT buses have been crowded Friday, however the service ran effectively sufficient “to make sure everyone who wanted to get on a bus had a bus available,” he mentioned.
Commutes to and from a Shakira live performance at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Friday night time have been dealt with by Coach USA buses that have been supplemented by NJT buses, Kolluri mentioned.
“We also had 50 buses waiting at the Vince Lombardi station to make sure that nobody was stranded,” he mentioned. “Within 45 minutes, NJ Transit quietly and efficiently moved every single person who wanted to get on a bus out of there.”
A suspended service discover is displayed on a NJ Transit prepare ticket merchandising machine, attributable to a strike by New Jersey Transit prepare engineers, at Penn Station in New York, Friday, Might 16, 2025. (AP Photograph/Richard Drew)
Cash — particularly the hourly wage for the engineers who make the nation’s third largest commuter rail community run — is on the middle of the labor dispute that got here to a head Thursday night time as talks stalled and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen referred to as the strike they first voted to authorize in August 2023.
NJ Transit engineers’ hourly charge begins at $39.78 an hour — lower than their LIRR counterparts, who make $49.92, in addition to the engineers of Metro-North, who make $57.20.
Kolluri has mentioned he provided a increase that will have seen the BLET members make $49.82 an hour by the summer time. That provide led to a tentative settlement earlier this spring that seemed briefly to have averted NJ Transit’s first rail strike in 40 years. The proposal was overwhelmingly rejected by 87% of BLET membership, nonetheless.
An empty PATH prepare platform inside Newark Penn Station on Friday, Might 16, 2025 in Newark, N.J. (AP Photograph/Stefan Jeremiah)
Commuters are inspired to work from home if the strike continues into Monday. Kolluri mentioned that his persons are “ready to wake up the railroad” as quickly because the deal is reached, however the deal must be an equitable one.
“We want a fair deal that will not break the bank,” he mentioned. “That is our principle. I hope the union understands that is where we are and that is where we will be. The governor and I have said we will not make a decision on a labor contract that will leave the next governor a mess to clean up.”
