NEWARK, N.J. — NJ Transit engineers have ratified a new agreement, ending a five-year contract dispute including a three-day strike in May.
Neither side immediately released details of the seven-year deal, retroactive to 2020. But the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said it includes a pay increase that will raise hourly wages to more than $50 per hour, along with retroactive wages and a signing bonus.
Some 89% of the engineers participated in the ratification vote, with 398 (95%) voting in favor and 21 against.
“Our members told us through an earlier vote that they wanted parity with engineers at Amtrak and other passenger railroads that share the same train platforms,” BLET National President Mark Wallace said in a press release. “… Now, through this vote, our members have told us that the terms agreed to are both fair and acceptable.”
NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said in a statement that the contact represents “a fair and fiscally responsible agreement for our locomotive engineers, NJ Transit, our customers, and the taxpayers of New Jersey. …
“We adhered to the established bargaining pattern and, through constructive negotiations, secured meaningful concessions that enabled us to fund the wage increases sought by BLET members without exceeding our current budget.
“We adhered to the established bargaining pattern and, through constructive negotiations, secured meaningful concessions that enabled us to fund the wage increases sought by BLET members without exceeding our current budget.”
NJ.com reports the NJ Transit board will not vote ton the agreement at its meeting on Wednesday, June 11, because the matter is not on the current agenda. Instead, its ratification will come at a July 17 meeting.
Engineers, who had worked without a contract since 2020, went on strike May 16 after having rejected an earlier tentative agreement reached a month earlier [see “Strike shuts down …,” Trains News Wire, May 16, 2025]. The agreement that ended the strike was announced the evening of May 18, with service resuming May 20 [see “NJ Transit, engineers reach deal …,” News Wire, May 18, 2025].
