New Jersey commuters awoke to a journey nightmare Friday as NJ Transit engineers went on strike in pursuit of a windfall wage hike.
And so simply 450 employees are slamming the 100,000 or so riders who depend on the railroad to get to and from their jobs.
Worse, by their union’s reckoning the demand is for a close to 50% increase: The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen claims its members earn a median of $113,000, but they’re holding out for $170,000 — arguing that they need to be on par with their Metro-North and LIRR friends.
NJT calculates that the typical (together with extra time) is $135,000 now, which nonetheless means the demand is for a hike above 25% — regardless that the railroad is already operating within the purple (identical to the state funds).
And NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri is anxious not merely about the price of assembly the Brotherhood’s calls for, however the certainty that the different NJT unions will insist on matching pay will increase, backed by their very own strike threats: “monetary doom,” he calls it.
That will add as much as $1.3 billion in new prices, forcing a fare hike of not less than 17% on the heels of final yr’s hefty soar in ticket costs.
“What the folks of New Jersey want proper now could be for the members to fulfill their obligations to the general public,” fumed Gov. Phil Murphy.
Good luck with that, Phil — and a lot for all of your vows to lastly straighten out NJ Transit.
To be honest, the railroad might level fingers on the MTA, which for years (below orders from New York politicians) has handed hefty wage hikes to the unions representing Metro-North and Lengthy Island Railroad employees with out profitable work-rule adjustments or different productiveness features.
However that doesn’t make the Jersey union’s calls for any much less outrageous.
It’s a contest of wills now: Will Murphy fold (and so hand the complications on to the successor to be elected this fall), or discover a solution to rally sufficient public help to stare down the Brotherhood’s blackmail?