(16 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 16 May 2025
1. Mid, striking union members chanting
2. SOUNDITE (English) Mark Wallace, National President, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen:
"So our members went on strike today because new Jersey Transit walked away from negotiations at 9.50 (0150GMT Friday) last night. So the deadline was 12:01 a.m. and at 950. New Jersey transit chose to walk away from negotiations."
(Reporter asking question: What is the membership asking for?)
Membership is asking for a fair pay package. They make $10 less an hour than most of the other engineers in the Northeast Corridor. They’re the lowest paid commuter engineers in the nation."
3. Close-up striker holding sign
4. SOUNDITE (English) Mark Wallace, National President, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen:
"We had an agreement that was initialed by the union, put out to the membership for ratification. 87% of our members voted that agreement down. And so we’re a bottom up, not a top down organization. Our members give us direction and our members said it wasn’t enough. So we went back to the table to try to get a fair wage. "
5. Various, union members holding signs
6. SOUNDITE (English) Mark Wallace, National President, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen:
"We’ve been working without a contract for over almost six years. They’ve not had a pay raise in six years. So they worked through COVID, they worked through the worst inflationary period in my lifetime without a pay raise. And all they’re asking is to be treated fairly.
(Reporter asking question: What would you say to the passengers that the locomotive engineers bring into the city and all over the place? What would you say to them them?)
I would say to the passengers that this is on New Jersey Transit. New Jersey Transit had almost six years to solve this issue. They walked away from the table last night and New Jersey Transit can fix it today. We’re open to have discussions to try to get this settled and get passengers moving. Our locomotive engineers want to move passengers, but they want to do it at a fair pay rate."
7. Close-up sign to customers
STORYLINE:
New Jersey Transit train engineers went on strike, leaving train terminals quiet for Friday’s rush hour and an estimated 350,000 commuters in New Jersey and New York City to seek other means to reach their destinations or consider staying home.
Groups of picketers gathered in front of transit headquarters in Newark and at the Hoboken Terminal, carrying signs that said “Locomotive Engineers on Strike” and “NJ Transit: Millions for Penthouse Views Nothing for Train Crews.”
Friday’s rail commute into New York from New Jersey is typically the lightest of the week. In New York, some commuters from New Jersey said they could not work remotely and had to come in, taking busses to the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan.
The walkout comes after the latest round of negotiations on Thursday didn’t produce an agreement. It is the state’s first transit strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management.
"We’ve been working without a contract for over almost six years," said Mark Wallace, the National President, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
He said his members "worked through COVID, they worked through the worst inflationary period in my lifetime without a pay raise. And all they’re asking is to be treated fairly."
NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri described the situation as a pause in the conversations.
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