A screen displays a rail service disruption warning ahead of an NJ Transit strike deadline, at Penn Station in New York, U.S., May 15, 2025. REUTERS
A commuter boards a train at Penn Station in New York, U.S., May 15, 2025. REUTERS
A passenger boards an NJ Transit train ahead of a strike deadline, at Penn Station in New York, U.S., May 15, 2025. REUTERS
PRINCETON, New Jersey, May 15 (Reuters) – New Jersey’s commuter rail engineers will walk off the job early on Friday after 11th-hour contract talks with the third-largest U.S. public transit system stalled just ahead of a midnight deadline set for meeting their wage demands, the workers’ union said late on Thursday.
The first labor strike against the New Jersey Transit agency in more than 40 years was set to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) on Friday, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said in a statement.
The union, which represents 450 NJ Transit engineers who drive the agency’s commuter trains, said a marathon 15-hour bargaining session on Thursday broke off when management negotiators walked out of the talks at 10 p.m.
The union announcement came as New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and NJ Transit’s Chief Executive Officer Kris Kolluri were holding a news conference, telling reporters talks had “paused” but that management remained willing to return to the bargaining table at any time.
They also outlined the agency’s contingency plans for dealing with a strike that is expected to idle trains serving hundreds of thousands of commuters in New Jersey and New York.
Reporting by Joseph Ax in Princeton, New Jersey; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Christian Schmollinger
