The next step in the process requires intervention from President Obama, who must create a three-member Presidential Emergency Board to keep the sides negotiating and prevent a strike or labor lockout that could cripple the region’s economy. Nearly 955,000 people ride NJ Transit buses, trains and light rail every workday.
NJ Transit and its unions started negotiating through the National Mediation Board in 2011, soon after the old contract expired. As the process dragged on, more unions joined in, eventually creating a coalition that includes all 17 of NJ Transit’s unions, together representing 4,263 workers, said Thomas Roth, a labor consultant hired to represent the unions in the next round of negotiations. The final union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, joined the coalition last week, Roth said.
