The NJ Transit Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen could strike as early as May 15 if the two sides do not reach an accord. They’ve remained at odds over the level of wage hikes, with engineers seeking increases that would bring their average salary to $190,000, while the agency has pushed for a contract that would bring that wage up to $172,000.
“If there’s any citizen, private or government, in this environment who’d get a $25,000 pay raise and say, ‘No, no, that’s not good enough,’ does that sound like a group of people who are grounded in reality, or more importantly, on what is actually happening in the world we live in?” Kolluri told the Assembly’s budget committee.
In written responses to questions asked through the Office of Legislative Services, NJ Transit warned it could face cost increases as a result of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, though it said it lacks the information needed to gauge the impact tariffs would have.
The agency said it had not lost any federal funding to date but warned of “significant service reductions and drastic cost cutting” if the federal government reduces its funding. NJ Transit is set to receive $334 million, about 10.5 percent of its total budget, in federal dollars for preventative maintenance in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
But it’s the strike that could provide the more immediate threat to the agency.
Locomotive engineers have argued the higher salaries are necessary to compete with rail operators in New York.
A federal board that oversaw the dispute at an earlier stage found NJ Transit engineers were paid at least $10 less per hour than counterparts at Amtrak, the Long Island Railroad and the Metro-North Commuter Railroad, though it found engineers at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority were paid roughly 10 percent less than NJ Transit engineers.
“The conclusion is that they live in New Jersey, they work in New Jersey, but they want to get paid like they live and work in New York,” Kolluri said. “Nice dream, isn’t it?”
A spokesperson for the union did not return a request for comment. Tom Haas, the union’s general chairman representing engineers at NJ Transit, last week said in a statement that it’s NJ Transit that is not recognizing economic reality. The agency’s engineers are leaving to find jobs at railroads that will pay them more, putting NJ Transit at risk of a severe shortage of people to run its trains, Haas said.
“It costs roughly $250,000 to train an engineer, and it takes time. High churn rates are not a good way to keep a railroad running. The better answer is to pay a competitive wage to help with both recruitment and retention,” he said.
Mark Wallace, who ascended to become the union’s national president on May 1, on Sunday warned his members “will likely be on strike at New Jersey Transit” this month.
Though NJ Transit and the union negotiated a contract earlier this year, locomotive engineers overwhelmingly rejected the agreement when it was put to a vote in April.
Kolluri has said the engineers’ contract proposal would require NJ Transit to raise fares by 17 percent, increase collections from a new corporate business tax that funds the agency by 27 percent, or drastically cut services to afford the engineers’ proposed wages.
Union officials have said Kolluri has overstated the cost of their proposal.
The agency last week unveiled a mitigation plan for an eventual strike. That plan relies on bus trips from four designated park-and-ride lots but would only handle about 20 percent of the agency’s daily rail riders. Kolluri on Monday repeated his plea that those who can work from home do so.
He added that New York’s congestion pricing tolls on certain crossings into Manhattan would not fill any of the agency’s forthcoming fiscal needs, warning that the steep tolls had not meaningfully increased ridership on NJ Transit trains.
“In January, our numbers were down. In February, it was up by 3 percent, and we’re back to even par in March,” Kolluri said. “There aren’t any wild fluctuations because of congestion pricing.”
