(17 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESSn
Morrisville, Pennsylvania – 17 May 2025
1. Locomotive engineers picketing
2. Locomotive strike signs
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Bill Craven, locomotive engineer:
"I’m a locomotive engineer for New Jersey Transit. I’ve been with Transit for 25 years. Everybody you see the red shirts here, we’re all locomotive engineers for New Jersey Transit."
4. Moorisville yard sign
5. Moorisville train yard
6.SOUNDBITE (English) Bill Craven, locomotive engineer:
"Most of us would much rather be running trains. That’s what we do for a living. We don’t want to disrupt our lives, other people’s lives. But it comes to a point where we haven’t had a raise in six years."
7. Picketers hold up signs
8. Picketer stands near road
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Bill Craven, locomotive engineer:
"We’re just asking for fair — a fair contract We would like, like for the company to come to the table to be fair."
++EDIT ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Picketers in red shirts that said “United We Bargain Divided We Beg” carried signs and blared music not far from a NJ Transit train yard in the suburban Philadelphia town of Morrisville on Saturday.
The locomotive engineers’ strike began Friday at the rail system with 350,000 daily riders and left commuters either working from home or searching for other ways to travel across the state or over the Hudson River to New York City.
Talks aimed at settling a strike between train engineers and New Jersey’s huge commuter railroad will pick up on Saturday and continue Sunday.
New Jersey Transit CEO Kris Kolluri spoke Saturday at Newark’s Broad Street Station, saying the agency is preparing for the workweek commute by “surging” buses to help commuters at train stations. However, he cautioned the buses can’t handle the entire volume of the commuter rail system.
Bill Craven, a 25-year veteran engineer, described the mood among union members positively. He said they usually don’t get to congregate because they’re typically passing each other on the rails at 100 mph.
“Most of us would much rather be running trains. That’s what we do for a living. We don’t want disrupt our lives, other people’s lives, but it comes to a point where we haven’t had a raise in six years,” he said.
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.
AP video by Mike Catalini
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