NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - NJ Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen reached a tentative deal to end the strike that halted NYC routes, affecting 100K daily riders.
The agreement was reached Sunday evening, three days after locomotive engineers began their strike.
The main sticking point had been how to accomplish a wage increase for the engineers without creating a financially disastrous domino effect for the transit agency.
It was the state’s first transit strike in over 40 years, forcing people who normally rely on New Jersey Transit to take buses, cars, taxis, and boats instead, or consider staying home.
The union said its members would return to work Monday.
Supplemental bus service from four regional Park & Rides will be in place and operating on Monday, May 19, only. NJ Transit will continue to deploy customer ambassadors at stations and Park & Ride locations to assist customers as train service restarts.
NJ Transit announced on X that full rail service will restart on Tuesday, as it takes around 24 hours to inspect and prepare the infrastructure.
NJ Transit strongly encourages those who can work from home on Monday to do so and limit traveling on the NJ TRANSIT system to essential purposes only.
A statement from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen sent by email said the terms of the agreement would be sent to the union’s 450 members who work as locomotive engineers or trainees at the passenger railroad.
“While I won’t get into the exact details of the deal reached, I will say that the only real issue was wages and we were able to reach an agreement that boosts hourly pay beyond the proposal rejected by our members last month and beyond where we were when NJ Transit’s managers walked away from the table Thursday evening,” said Tom Haas, the union’s general chairman at NJ Transit.
NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri released a statement Sunday evening that reads in part: “I am pleased to join Governor Murphy to announce that we have reached a mutually acceptable agreement that is both fair for our locomotive engineers and affordable for our riders and New Jersey taxpayers. I want to thank our customers for their understanding and apologize for any inconvenience during this time, however, it was important to me to reach a deal that didn’t require a significant fare increase. I also want to recognize the thousands of NJ TRANSIT employees who stepped up during this time to support our customers and minimize the impacts to the greatest extent possible.”
This story comprises reporting from The Associated Press.
Ben Mitchell is a digital content producer from Vermont who has covered both local and international news since 2021. He joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of his work here.
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