Train strike ends after snarling NY travel

NEW YORK – Train service in New Jersey will resume on May 20 after striking transit workers and officials came to a tentative agreement following several days of mass misery for New York area commuters.

Train engineers seeking higher pay went on the

first statewide transit strike in more than 40 years

on May 18 at a minute after midnight as contract talks fell apart.

Many commuters were caught unaware and left scrambling to get to nearby New York using other means of transportation such as Uber or Amtrak, the national rail system, both of which can be many multitudes more expensive.

New Jersey Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (Blet) announced on May 18 that they reached “a tentative agreement”.

But they warned that train service would not resume for approximately 24 hours, with the transit authority reporting that it needed the time “to inspect and prepare tracks, rail cars and other infrastructure before returning to full scheduled service”.

Blet said the terms would be sent for consideration to the union’s 450 members who work as locomotive engineers or are trainees, with details and figures to be disclosed publicly after the members are able to review them.

The union said it has been locked in a years-long dispute with NJ Transit, with its members going five years without a raise.

Blet workers picketed outside rail stations, with many waving 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 the country.

NJ Transit officials have said the wage hike requested by the union would end up costing the company and taxpayers millions. AFP