“We’ll see you in court.” The contract between NJ Transit and the BLET requires engineers to be paid 10.4 % more than conductors. When conductors at the commuter railroad received a raise, BLET members at NJT should automatically have received a boost in their wages as well. They didn’t. The dispute is scheduled to be settled at an arbitration hearing on January 9. However, the employer is trying every trick in the book to get out of its contractual obligations and out of the arbitration hearing.
NJT’s lawyers filed suit last week in U.S. District Court seeking a court order to stop the arbitration from happening, marking the latest chapter in this contentious battle. BLET’s lawyers will argue in federal court that under the parties’ existing contract the money is owed, and that the arbitration should be held as scheduled.
Also related to NJT, Presidential Emergency Board 252 is scheduled to release its report no later than January 21 with its non-binding recommendations for a contract settlement. The union and NJT management have been locked in bitter negotiations to amend the contract since 2019. The date that the cooling off period mandated by the Railway Labor Act ends is 60 days after the Presidential Emergency Board issues its report and potential “self-help” by the union, meaning a strike, could begin then if the parties are unable to come to an agreement.