President Biden stepped in to delay a potential NJ Transit strike on Wednesday, preventing any potential action for at least 120 days.
About 500 NJ Transit workers represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen voted to authorize a strike in August 2023. The workers have been laboring without a contract since 2019.
But railway workers, including those at NJ Transit, are governed by federal law that limits their ability to actually strike. NJ Transit and the BLET have meandered through several mediation steps since last year’s strike vote, with Biden’s intervention being the latest.
“This labor dispute has dragged on for far too long, but we will respect the process established by the Railway Labor Act,” BLET National President Eddie Hall said in a statement.
According to the BLET, NJ Transit workers are paid less than their counterparts at the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North and PATH trains. Additionally, NJ Transit engineers haven’t seen a raise in more than four years, as the contract dispute has dragged on.
NJ Transit requested Biden step in and appoint a Presidential Emergency Board to mediate the dispute. The president was required to take action after receiving the request, according to the White House.
While the presidential board officially delays the strike threat for 120 days, NJ Transit said any possible strike now cannot occur until March 2025.
Biden is no stranger to mediating railroad disputes. In 2022, the president stepped in to stop a potential strike by freight train conductors and engineers. Though the unions did not approve the contract, Congress passed a law imposing it, which Biden signed in December 2022.
NJ Transit workers last went on strike in 1983, a work stoppage that lasted for 34 days.
With News Wire Services
