The National Mediation Board (NMB) has summoned the BLET and NJ Transit back to Washington D.C. for a last-ditch effort to reach a contract settlement ahead of this week’s strike deadline. The parties will meet on Monday, May 12. A strike or lock-out could begin as early as 12:01 a.m. on Friday, May 16.
The BLET hosted a press conference late last week where BLET National President Mark Wallace and NJT General Chairman Tom Haas spoke and took questions from members of the media. The BLET leaders discussed a contract offer BLET presented to NJ Transit’s management earlier this week and exposed misinformation being circulated by the transit agency. Watch the press conference here. President Wallace said the extra meeting requested by NMB is not required by the Railway Labor Act (RLA), but said BLET would attend in an effort to pursue all options to avoid a strike.
The BLET National Division this week produced this television commercial on behalf of its NJT members, which will run on cable in New Jersey this week. The ad outlines the union’s position on locomotive engineer wages at NJT and asks viewers, “NJT has millions for pet projects and penthouse views. Isn’t it time it paid train crews?”
BLET’s 450 members at NJT are the lowest-paid locomotive engineers at any of the major passenger railroads in the United States. They have gone without a raise for six years and have been seeking a new contract since October 2019. The contract dispute has gone through years of NMB-sponsored mediation and recommendations from two Presidential Emergency Boards.
BLET sent a contract offer from management to members in March, which was rejected on April 15, with 87% of the engineers casting “no” votes.
NJT claims it doesn’t have the money to pay engineers a salary in line with industry standards, but somehow found a half-billion dollars for a new and unnecessary headquarters. NJT’s management says a strike would cost the agency $4 million per day. Funding a raise for engineers would cost less than what it would cost for a one-week strike.
Despite rising demand due to congestion pricing in New York City and an increasing number of workers returning to the office. NJT has been forced to cancel or delay trains due to a shrinking number of certified locomotive engineers, what they call “engineer availability.” Dozens of engineers have left for higher-paying jobs at Amtrak and other passenger railroads in recent months, eight for Amtrak in the past three weeks.
NJT General Chairman Tom Haas at the microphone flanked by National President Mark Wallace during BLET’s May 9 press conference. News 12 New York image