Four hundred and fifty train engineers at New Jersey Transit (NJT) walked off the job early Friday morning, after years of fruitless negotiations with their employer.
These workers drive the state-run commuter trains that serve 350,000 daily riders in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. As of late Thursday night, NJT train service was completely shut down. The transit system is running additional buses as an alternative, but it’s extremely unlikely that they can make up the difference.
“I take pride in what I do,” said one longtime engineer on the picket line, who didn’t want to give his name for fear of retaliation. “It gives me great joy taking my commuters to and from work every day. I’m moving hundreds of commuters. We didn’t want to get to this point, but we’re here.”
NJT had to cancel its trains and buses to the sold-out Shakira concerts last night and tonight at MetLife Stadium, which holds 82,000 people. Beyoncé also has concerts scheduled there next week.
The central issue is wages. According to the union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET, a Teamsters affiliate), NJT engineers earn $10 per hour less than their counterparts who perform similar jobs at nearby commuter railroads and Amtrak.
The area has a uniquely high concentration of rail systems by US standards — and the higher pay entices a steady stream of workers to leave NJT to work at Amtrak and New York’s Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road.
“We’ve noticed the departure of a lot of young engineers,” the same worker said, “because they’re looking at the salary now and they’re like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, this is not working out.’ So they’re coming and they’re getting the skill, and then they’re just…
Auteur: Joe DeManuelle-Hall
