NJ Transit reaches tentative wage hike agreement with locomotive engineers, highlighting key moves to avert a strike.
Drashti Garach
engineers reach a tentative wage hike agreement.
board still need to ratify the deal.
would've disrupted 100,000 commuters.
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Ah, New Jersey. Land of jug handles, infamous shore traffic, and now a potentially explosive train strike averted. For over three years, NJ Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have been in a slow-moving train at the negotiation table. They finally reached a consensus on March 6, striking what rail commuters pray will be a winning deal for all.
The dispute had unraveled many nerves, with deadlines as daunting as an impending snowstorm. The engineers' contract, gathering dust since it expired back on Dec. 31, 2019, needed urgent TLC. The engineering faction wanted wage hikes spicier than those served up to NJ Transit's other 14 rail unions. NJ Transit was looking more at moderation, you know, like your Aunt Maureen’s non-chili rendition of a curry dish.
Drumbeats of an upcoming strike urged NJ Transit and the engineers’ union to meet daily since January, in hopes of remedying the wage gridlock. And behold, they've struck upon a “reasonable wage increase.”
But hey, because nothing is so simple in this affair, loose ends involving final-year contract wage increases (NJ Transit was eyeing a 4% hike, the union a meatier 14%) needed serious knuckling down. Now, all they need is for the union members to back the contract, the NJ Transit board to nod approval, and for the Governor to resist a veto itch.
This promising handshake doesn’t mean you can tuck the hair of naysayers behind your ears just yet. The deal inches forwards only if everyone can agree on the terms. Any thumbs-down spells the possibility of the engineers politely but firmly parking their trains 30 days later—with a potential strike once again looming in the rider's rearview mirror.
Preliminary steps wrapped, NJ Transit feels a wave of relief and introspection—a classic moment to shout out commitment to fairness and efficiency alongside the union’s shared hope for groundbreaking new tech soon rolling into the workforce fold.
The clock ticked down but the engine didn’t whimper to a halt; comfort, after all, is knowing 100,000 might-doomed fellow commuters will board stress-free trains another day.
Grab your gear, NJ Transit—your passengers are counting on you to keep on rolling.
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