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On May 18, the BLET and NJ Transit reached a tentative agreement to end a three-day strike at the nation’s third-largest commuter railroad, which affected 350,000 riders across the Garden State and into New York City. Balloting is now underway as BLET’s 450 members are voting on the tentative deal. While the results are being tabulated, we examine various aspects of the strike, which was the first strike at NJT in 42 years. 

OFF THE RAILS:
BLET engineers at New Jersey Transit take contract battle to the streets after management walks away from negotiations; First strike at NJT in 42 years

On Sunday May 18, the BLET and NJ Transit reached a tentative agreement to end a three-day strike at the nation’s third-largest commuter railroad, which affected 350,000 riders across the Garden State and into New York City. BLET’s 450 members returned to work and trains began running on their regular schedules on Tuesday, May 20.

Contract talks ended abruptly on Thursday May 15. After 15 hours of non-stop contract talks, management walked away from the bargaining table two hours prior to the strike deadline. The strike began at 12:01 a.m., Friday, May 16, bringing all of NJT’s trains to a standstill.

BLET’s members at NJT were well prepared. As soon as management left the table, members and union supporters fanned out to dozens of strike locations throughout New York and New Jersey in preparation for the 12:01 a.m. strike deadline. With signs in hand, they walked the picket lines around the clock (rain or shine) until the tentative agreement was announced on May 18.

After walking away from the bargaining table, NJT CEO and President Kris Kolluri and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy conducted a news conference where they said “a pause” was needed and that they wouldn’t return to the bargaining table until Sunday. But the BLET publicly called out management for walking away and refusing to bargain, with BLET National President Mark Wallace discussing the situation in a national television interview with CNN. Later that day, after President Wallace reached out to the NJT CEO, the parties agreed to push bargaining up to Saturday, which concluded with the TA on Sunday.

Terms of the agreement will be sent to the BLET members who work as locomotive engineers or are trainees at the passenger railroad for their consideration. Contract language and dollar figures will be announced after BLET’s members at NJT first have an opportunity to review. The BLET National Division will begin to conduct a ratification vote by electronic ballot for the 450 BLET members eligible to vote. The agreement also requires a vote by the NJ Transit board at their next regularly scheduled meeting on June 11.

“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, BLET’s General Chairman at NJ Transit. “We also were able to show management ways to boost engineers’ wages that will help NJT with retention and recruitment, without causing any significant budget issue or requiring a fare increase.”

NJ Governor Murphy struck a conciliatory tone in a post-strike press conference on May 18. “I am pleased to announce that we have reached a fair and fiscally responsible contract settlement that provides a generous wage increase for BLET members while saving taxpayers and customers the burden of fare increases,” Governor Murphy said.

PHOTO GALLERY:
Nearly 100 pictures from the picket lines

WATCH:
National President Mark Wallace’s picket line interview with CNN that aired on national television

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POLITICS & THE NJT STRIKE:
Congressional action and inaction is noteworthy and helped BLET achieve goals

U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver (NJ-10) came out in the rain to support BLET members on the picket line at 2 Gateway Center.

While BLET members have yet to vote on the tentative agreement, their strike at NJ Transit is considered a win. Under the rules of the Railway Labor Act, the United States Congress could have passed legislation to delay or block the strike. It is noteworthy that Congress chose not to intervene.

“I want to thank members of Congress for allowing the process to work without interference,” BLET National President Mark Wallace said. “This should be a lesson for other railroad disputes. Nothing would have been gained by kicking the can down the road. Allowing strikes to happen encourages settlement rather than stonewalling.”

Many members of Congress voiced support, one walked the picket line, some made phone calls to Gov. Murphy requesting that NJT bargain in good faith with the BLET. This didn’t happen by accident.

Lobbyists with both the BLET’s National Legislative Office in Washington, D.C., and the Teamsters Rail Conference reached out to key members of Congress and staff asking them to remain on the sidelines and let the provisions of the Railway Labor Act play out.

Earlier in the union’s contract campaign outreach was made to members of the New Jersey state assembly and Senate as well as gubernatorial candidates, including a member mobilization effort where BLET members across the state messaged their representatives. The union also connected with gubernatorial candidates. New Jersey along with Virginia are the only two states that will elect a governor this year.

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NJT MEDIA CAMPAIGN:
Giving NJT workers a voice through public outreach

BLET National President Mark Wallace is interviewed by CNN. Just over his shoulder, BLET First Vice President Gary Best is interviewed by CBS News.

As part of its bargaining strategy, the BLET ramped up public pressure on NJT through a media and advertising campaign. The union targeted the transit authority’s misplaced priorities with a slogan, “Millions for penthouse views, not a dime for train crews.” The public campaign included a series of protests outside the transit agency’s headquarters, at NJT’s 40th anniversary celebration, along with regional public information meetings scheduled by the agency. These actions generated significant attention in the New Jersey and New York media as well as in papers such as The Philadelphia Inquirerand cable and broadcast outlets including CNN.

The BLET purchased billboards that were placed near NJT rail stations and outside NJT’s headquarters. Key events in the bargaining process such as a strike vote that passed with 100% of BLET’s NJT membership voting in favor of striking, the announcement of each PEB and other parts of the bargaining process served as news hooks for the union to do further media outreach.

Prior to the strike, the union conducted extensive media outreach by phone and email and held two heavily attended news conferences in Newark featuring General Chairman Tom Haas and National President Mark Wallace (click here to watch BLET’s May 9 press conference). The BLET also produced a 60-second television advertisement (click here to watch) to educate the public and provide a visual for television and social media.

Once the strike was announced, picket line interviews were held with BLET leaders and members of the bargaining team. Media advisories and news releases were sent to keep the media informed and to push back against false claims by the employer and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. The union also was the first to announce the end of the strike and the signing of a tentative agreement. This was later validated by management and the governor at a news conference.

For more information,
READ: 

The Washington Post: New Jersey Transit rail strike ends with pay raise for workers, union says

USA Today: New Jersey Transit, union reach deal to end work strike

WATCH:
PIX 11 New York: NJ Transit, engineers union reach tentative deal to end strike

ABC News: New Jersey transit strike ends with tentative deal reached

BLET National Vice President Jim Louis conducts a press conference

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NJT UNION SOLIDARITY:
BLET members get strong support from commuters, fellow unions

In a show of solidarity, striking BLET members were joined many other union members on the picket lines, including the flight attendants’ union (AFA-CWA).

A honk and a wave from a passing motorist. A thumbs up, kind words from a passing commuter — all signs of solidarity with locomotive engineers that went a long way to boost the morale of BLET members as they walked on the picket lines during their strike for fair wages against NJ Transit.

BLET members on a picket line in Port Morris counted over 600 car beeps in one eight hour shift. In Newark, a disabled man known as “DJ Scooterman” blasted music from his motorized wheelchair to keep everyone entertained. He dedicated the Twisted Sister anthem, “We’re not Gonna Take It,” to the striking locomotive engineers.

At the picket line in front of the New York City entrance to NJT, adjacent to Madison Square Garden, one woman shouted to picketers, “Squeeze them, squeeze them hard!”

News accounts quoting passengers, 350,000 of whom were affected by the strike, were overwhelmingly positive. The Wall Street Journal ended an article with this quote, “I think the demands are reasonable,” said Joe Versaggi, president of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers, who lives in Bridgewater, N.J. “They should make within 5% of what their counterparts in New York do. How is it we have the highest fares and the lowest-paid engineers?”

More traditional shows of solidarity came from fellow union workers who walked the picket lines with BLET members, gifting them coffee, bottles of water, donuts, cookies, sandwiches and pizza. The unions who lent support are almost too numerous to mention but include flight attendants who are members of AFA/CWA, airline pilots, OPEIU’s newly-organized Sesame Street writers, and public-school teachers. A member of the Writers Guild of America-East spoke to BLET members for a bit about the strike that appeared on Saturday Night Live. Fellow transportation unions helped in a big way, including unions such as the AFL-CIO TTD, BMWED, ATU, TWU Local 100, and others.

Teamsters from IBT locals across New York and New Jersey were among some of BLET’s strongest supporters. They brought with them a large inflatable “rat” and “fat cat” to demonstrations outside of NJT ‘s Newark headquarters and other picket line locations.

Notably, Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien sent support in the form of staff from IBT’s headquarters in Washington. They issued supportive press releases and produced compelling videos from the picket lines.

WATCH:
Teamster video #1 (2 minutes): 
Members and officers speak from the picket lines

Teamster video #2 (40 seconds): 
Members demanding respect, honor, and integrity

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HOW WE GOT HERE: 
The three-day strike was the last step. Six years of hard — often frustrating — work came first

BLET leaders conducting a midnight press conference as the strike began.

In the Labor Movement it’s often said that “a strike is a last resort.” This was the case for BLET’s members at NJ Transit (NJT). The most recent tentative agreement at NJT was only reached after nearly six years of bargaining, legal maneuvering, and behind the scenes hard work.

“A lot of people will look at Olympic athletes and attribute their skill to God-given talent. But that doesn’t take into consideration all the hard work they do to get their body to the point where they can compete at the highest level,” said BLET National President Mark Wallace. “I believe the sports metaphor is a fair comparison to our strike at NJ Transit. Don’t just look at this recent rail strike and think it was easy to accomplish or that our members walked off the job in a huff. It took six years of planning, preparation and jumping over legal hurdles to get to this point.”

The planning began on October 1, 2019, when under the Railway Labor Act, the BLET served its Section 6 notice on NJT to express intent to begin negotiations on a new contract. That’s around the same time — December 31, 2019, that BLET’s NJT locomotive engineers received their last pay raise (2%).

Negotiations began in early 2020, but the bargaining teams for BLET and NJT management met only twice in an eight-month period between January and August. In October of that year, the BLET applied for mediation services through the National Mediation Board (NMB).

The parties held 20 mediation sessions over the next four years (2020-2024), however, there continued to be little movement, The BLET formally requested three times to be released from mediation, an important step under the Railway Labor Act that could lead to “self-help” where it is lawful for the union to call a strike.

NMB finally granted BLET’s request for release in June 2024. Two Presidential Emergency Boards — PEB 251 and PEB 252 followed. A freight rail dispute sees one PEB, but for passenger rail the law can require two. Both boards reviewed the situation, held hearings, and issued recommendations for a settlement that were rejected by BLET.

While the bargaining process dragged on for a new agreement, NJT seemed to have forgotten that under the Railway Labor Act contracts don’t end — they become amendable. BLET’s lawyers had to repeatedly push back against contract violations, retaliation against union officers, unilateral changes, and legal threats from the transit agency.

Away from the bargaining table, in public statements, NJT’s CEO and President Kevin Corbett and his spokespeople insisted that the union agree to terms set by a weak union for another craft on the property and wages below industry standards rather than addressing the unique needs of locomotive engineers.

NJT’s hourly wages were on average 20% lower than what engineers at other nearby commuter railroads and Amtrak earned. This was not only unfair for BLET members employed by NJT, it also hurt the transit agency’s ability to recruit and retain engineers critical to keeping trains moving. Yet, somehow, NJT found $19 million for a free fare holiday in August 2024, as well as a shocking half-billion dollars to lease a lavish and unneeded office building and $53 million to decorate its interior.

In January of this year, Corbett was pushed out and NJT brought in a new CEO, Kris Kolluri. Reaching an agreement with BLET was one of the new top manager’s stated goals and in fact, one of the BLET leaders involved in the contract talks said, “We did more bargaining in the first five minutes under Kolluri than we did in five years with Corbett.” Two months later, enough progress was made that the bargaining team felt they could put a proposed agreement to a vote by the membership. However, on April 15 it was announced by the union that the deal was rejected by an 87 percent majority of BLET members. It was back to the bargaining table in search of a voluntary agreement and a promise that if no deal was reached, a strike would begin at 12:01 a.m. on May 16.

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NJT CONTRACT VOTING:
Ballots have been mailed; Members who don’t receive one by June 3 should call the National Division

A mailbox full of mail against a blue and puffy white cloud sky

Ballots were mailed last week to approximately 450 BLET members to vote on the tentative agreement with NJT. Ballots are due by Tuesday, June 10. Members who are eligible and have not received a ratification packet by Tuesday, June 3, should call the National Division at (216) 241-2630, ext. 222. When connected with the extension, please leave the following information:

  • Your name, address and phone number;
  • The division to which you belong;
  • The railroad you work for;
  • Your date of birth;
  • The last four digits of your Social Security number; and
  • Your email address.

All replacement ballots will be distributed by email. Any member who requires a replacement ballot must include their email address in the voicemail; otherwise, they will not be able to participate in the ratification vote.