Train engineers seeking higher pay went on strike Friday in New Jersey, triggering travel misery for New York-area commuters in America’s biggest metropolitan corridor.
New Jersey’s first state-wide transit strike in decades began a minute after midnight when contract talks fell apart, so many people showed up at stations unaware that trains were not running.
Commuters scrambled to find alternative ways to get across the Hudson River into New York, looking at much higher fares to go by Uber or Amtrak, a national rail system. A ticket to Manhattan with the latter can cost $98.
Rahul Thota, a 20-year-old computer science student, found himself stranded in the city of Trenton while trying to get to a doctor’s appointment in another city. He cancelled it, then wondered how to make the 100 mile (160 km) trip back to his campus.
“I can’t afford to pay more than $100 to get the Amtrak ticket,” Thota told The New York Times. “I’m a student. I have bills to pay.”
NJ Transit, the third-largest transit system in the United States, said 350,000 customers rely on its services each day.
Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) union picketed outside rail stations as the strike set in.
Many waved signs that accused NJ Transit executives of treating themselves to expensive perks while train drivers’ wages lagged behind those of colleagues in other areas of America.
The union said it has been locked in a years-long dispute with NJ Transit, with its members going five years without a raise.
The union is seeking new contracts for around 450 engineers with hourly wages matching those of the neighboring Long Island Rail Road.
“NJ Transit has a half-billion dollars for a swanky new headquarters,” BLET National President Mark Wallace said in a statement. “They have money for penthouse views and pet projects, just not for their frontline workers. Enough is enough.”
Contract negotiations are due to resume Sunday.
NJ Transit officials have said the wage hike requested by the union would end up costing the company and taxpayers millions.
Governor Phil Murphy said the talks ended on a conciliatory note. “The fact that we’re not agreeing doesn’t mean that we’re throwing chairs at each other. To the contrary, we just are at an impasse,” he told a news conference Friday morning.
NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said the two sides are close to an agreement.
“We are 95 percent there,” he told the news conference. “We’ll get there.”
The transportation company expects the strike to predominantly affect daily commutes for about 70,000 New York-bound passengers, while also disrupting the travel of many thousands more along its extensive network.
The last statewide transit strike occurred in 1983 and lasted 34 days.
