Powerful three-day strike wins new contract for New Jersey Transit engineers

New York, N.Y.

On May 18, Locomotive Engineers at New Jersey Transit (NJT) won a new tentative contract with an improved wage offer after a solid three-day strike that halted the vital passenger rail service statewide. A message on the union’s strike website said it all: “Thank you members. We did it.”

The NJT engineers were forced out on strike after midnight May 16 when transit bosses walked out of contract negotiations. This was the second round of bargaining with the Locomotive Engineers union, representing 450 engineers and trainees, after 87 percent of voting members overwhelmingly rejected a previous proposal.

According to the Locomotive Engineers union, “New Jersey Transit engineers have the lowest wage among all passenger engineers in the US.” This has caused constant job turnover as trained and experienced engineers leave for better pay and benefits at other passenger railroads. In current talks, they demanded parity with fellow railway workers at Amtrak and mass transit in the Northeast, so they could stay at NJT long-term, making it safer and more reliable for passengers.

A statement on the union website explained: “There is no reasonable justification for the engineers of New Jersey Transit to be paid significantly less than their sisters and brothers who perform the exact same jobs, on the same tracks, operating into the same stations, even operating the very same trains, simply because they bring commuters from the other side of the Hudson River. All NJT engineers want is equal pay for equal work.”

Bosses feel economic pressure

NJT is the third largest commuter rail system in the U.S., transporting some 100,000 riders daily. This was the first NJT strike since a 34-day work stoppage in 1983. The value of locomotive engineers and trainees’ labor to the capitalist economy quickly became apparent and exerted strong pressure on the bosses for an acceptable settlement.

NJT management estimated the strike could cost the agency $4 million a day. The Partnership for New York, speaking for big New York City capitalists, estimated a $6 million productivity loss for every hour that commuters were delayed getting to work. (NYT, May 18) 

With no engineers to move passenger trains, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s feeble solution was to urge commuters to work from home. The National Mediation Board, which is responsible for keeping capitalist interstate commerce flowing, showed up to get contract talks moving again.

With costs piling up and a Monday, May 19 rush hour looming, the strike sent transit bosses scrambling to provide alternate service and quickly brought them back to the bargaining table over the May 17-18 weekend.

Picket lines and solidarity

Picket lines went up on May 16 at locked NJT stations in Newark, Hoboken, Trenton and other New Jersey locations as well as in New York City. The Locomotive Engineers belong to the Teamsters rail conference, and other unions soon showed their support.

In Atlantic City, according to strikers, when the engineers picketed the popular NJT line from Philadelphia, trades workers at the Atlantic City Convention Center packed up their tools and walked out in solidarity. Freight engineers showed support by refusing to run their trains over NJT rails, effectively halting their freight deliveries in South Jersey.

At New York City’s Penn Station, a steady stream of passersby stopped to express solidarity with the engineers on the first day of the strike. Among them was a supportive NJT clerk.

“They’re trying to pay you three-years-ago wages, two years from now,” she said. “That’s not right. I’m with you!”

“Millions for Penthouse Views, Nothing for Train Crews” read one of the signs carried by workers in red union shirts outside Penn Station, referring to the money NJT spent on its new half-billion-dollar headquarters. Meanwhile, engineers had gone six years with no raises after working through the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020-21 during which they lost colleagues.

By the third day of the strike, the Locomotive Engineers were joined on the New York City picket line by solidarity delegations from the Transport Workers Union, Sesame Workers Union, teachers, Workers World Party and others.

Ultimately, however, it was the solid strike by tenacious engineers and trainees that won the new tentative agreement, which reportedly contains the wage increase they fought for and which they will soon vote on as they return to work March 20.

Tom Haas, the union’s general chairman at NJ Transit stated, “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.” (Associated Press, May 19)