(Adjusts the resumption date of services to Tuesday from Monday in paragraphs 1 and 3, following the correction made by the union in their previous statement)
By Joseph Ax
- New Jersey Transit trains will resume operations on Tuesday following an agreement between the organization and striking rail engineers regarding salary hikes, concluding a strike that impacted roughly 350,000 commuters.
The state-wide rail strike, which marked the first such event for NJ Transit in over four decades, commenced shortly after midnight on Thursday. This left countless commuters heading to New York desperately seeking alternative ways to travel.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union, representing 450 NJ Transit engineers responsible for operating the organization’s commuter trains, announced they had struck a deal regarding compensation with the agency on Sunday. They stated their members would go back to work on Tuesday. Earlier, the union had indicated that train services were set to restart on Monday.
The specifics of the arrangement have not been disclosed yet. Members of the union will cast their votes on this pact, following their previous rejection of a similar proposal last month.
"The primary concern was compensation, but we managed to agree on terms that increase hourly wages above the proposal previously turned down by our members last month and higher than what we had before NJ Transit’s management left the negotiating table on Thursday night,” stated Tom Haas, who serves as the union chair for NJ Transit.
The NJ Transit, ranking as the third largest public transportation network in the country, facilitates over 700,000 daily rides on average through its extensive services including trains, light rails, and buses.
Each side accused the other of causing the walkout following the collapse of late-night negotiations on Thursday without reaching an agreement.
Murphy and NJ Transit authorities stated that the organization couldn't financially support meeting the union's salary requests. Meanwhile, the union countered that their aim was merely to align member compensation with that of engineers working for other nearby transit agencies.
(Reported by Joseph Ax; Edited by Diane Craft and Rod Nickel)
No comments:
Post a Comment