Rail Teamsters who work as Transit Locomotive Engineers at New Jersey Transit are preparing to strike if the carrier fails to deliver a fair contract by May 16. The engineers voted down a tentative agreement last month, with 87 percent voting no.

The 450 engineers, members of the Teamsters-affiliated BLET, have been working under an expired contract since 2019. In the six years since their contract expired, they have not gotten a raise, despite serving hundreds of thousands of commuters.

NJ Transit engineers are some of the lowest paid in the region. Their peers at AMTRAK and New York commuter railroads LIRR and Metro North make over $10/hour more.

NJ Transit’s Response? Threats and Lies

Instead of negotiating in good faith, NJ Transit is attacking workers with outrageous claims in the press that union members are demanding $320,000 annual salaries. NJ Transit trains bring commuters to and from New York every day, yet the carrier claims “it isn’t reasonable” for engineers to “demand to be paid like you live and work in New York.”

Additionally, the agency claims they will have to pass costs on to commuters while at the same time spending nearly half a billion dollars leasing new luxury office space.

What Comes Next

Time is running out. Members have bargained under the Railway Labor Act for 6 years, and have gone through arbitration and two Presidential Emergency Boards. Still NJ Transit refuses to offer a fair contract. If NJ Transit doesn’t get serious, the strike begins May 16.

Engineers are ready to strike if that’s what it takes. Teamsters will be ready to stand in solidarity.