It's Official. NJ Transit Engineers On Strike

Following up on yesterday's Pags' Perspective, I discuss NJ Transit engineers walking off the job at 12:01am this morning, and holding the pickett lines for the first time in over 40 years.

Intro: Toto - Hold The Line

All thoughts and opinions expressed on this podcast are solely my own.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome to Pag's perspective with your host Ryan Pagano holding
the line. Indeed, that's exactly what New Jersey Transit Engineers
are doing now, holding the picket line. That is, as
we are well over twelve hours into the first New
Jersey Transit engineer strike in over forty years. Last time

(00:38):
that happened nineteen eighty three, lasted for about a month
from March first to March thirty first, and during said strike,
New Jersey Transit implementing supplemental bus service, albeit limited only
accommodated just a fraction of their typical ridership. And the
same exact thing is happening now. I talked about this

(00:58):
on the podcast just yesterday, the likelihood of a potential strike,
what exactly that could mean, but still kind of leaving
the door open for a potential deal between NJT and
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and trade Men to be reached. Unfortunately,
they could not come to an agreement. Late last night
around eleven thirty pm, the BLT telling NJT of their

(01:22):
intent to strike, with trained service suspended as of twelve
oh one this morning, impacting some three hundred and fifty
thousand commuters who rely on New Jersey Transit to not
only get around the state but also get into New
York City. So a lot of people being affected by this,
a lot of people very conflicted. Now. I have seen

(01:43):
a lot of folks side with the engineers here, given
how underpaid they are in comparison to Long Island Railroad
and Metro North engineers making in some cases at least ten,
if not twenty dollars more compared to their New Jersey counterparts.
Like I had said last night, they wanted parody with
their New York brothers and sisters, New Jersey Transit unable

(02:05):
to supply as such. But also I've seen a lot
of people faulting the engineers for choosing to go on
strike and impacting the commutes of so many New Jerseyans,
And I understand the frustration. From a consumer standpoint, New
Jersey Transit has not had a good reputation, especially these
past few years, and especially as we're moving into the summertime.

(02:25):
Past few summers, they've been dealing with issues where apparently
they can't run the trains because it's too hot, and
even during the winter. Now they can run trains when
it's too cold. It's just weird how that works out,
or if it's right in between, they can't run trains
anyway because of a downed wire in Amtrak territory that
the federal government owned Amtrak is gonna need to fix.

(02:47):
It's just such an interesting dynamic. But if I'm in
New Jersey Transit Management's shoes right now, you'd think they
would want to get to a deal asap and given
to the demands, because this strike could not have come
at a possible worse time for New Jersey eights. And
I'm not just talking about people getting to work. Think

(03:09):
about how crazy New York City is going to get
tonight as far as the sports and entertainment scene goes.
Shakira once again playing tonight at MetLife Stadium, New Jersey
Transit already announcing Monday that they would not be supplying
rail or bus service to the stadium. Beyonce also set
to perform there next week, and it's also not clear
as of now if New Jersey Transit is even going

(03:31):
to be running any service over there. Really depends on
how the negotiations go, but there's very much a possibility
there as well that the only way for people to
even get to the stadium for these concerts in the
first place would be by car or by Uber and
those Uber drivers, Oh my, I could only imagine how
much profit they must be making off of this strike.

(03:52):
But also in the sports realm Knicks playing Game six
against the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden tonight, chance
to move on to the East Stern Conference Finals for
the first time since two thousand and a date with
the Pacers. Also the chance to just win a playoff
series at home for the first time since on ironically
the nineteen ninety nine Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers.

(04:14):
And then it's just crazy that this is becoming an afterthought.
But Wan so too, returning to Yankee Stadium for the
first time since signing with the Mets tonight game one
of the Subway series between the Mets and the Yankees,
which is going to be hellacious. It is going to
be an absolute scene in New York sports and entertainment tonight.

(04:35):
And for those coming from New Jersey, I mean, unless
they can connect with the path to get into the city,
they're really out of luck as far as transit options go. Yeah,
and JT is having limited peak bus service to path
terminals and the Port Authority bus terminal, but that's really
only able to accommodate so much. Now. It's unclear at
the moment if the engineers and the agency are going

(04:59):
to agree on a deal. NJT already having a contingency
plan for Monday morning in case a deal should not
be reached by then, but all New Jerseyans just holding
their breath, preparing for the worst and preparing to take
advantage of alternative options if need be. Engineers forming picket
lines at a couple different locations starting at four am

(05:19):
this morning, one of the main ones outside of New
Jersey Transits headquarters in downtown Newark, another in Atlantic City,
and another one outside of New York Penn Station at
the thirty third Street and Seventh Avenue entrance right outside
of the Long Island Railroad concourse. Over there. Are actually
walked past the picket line outside of New York Penn
Station earlier today. Not the biggest, I'd say, a handful

(05:42):
of engineers and standing ground, not engaging in any chance
or anything like that. So a very peaceful protest as
far as the New York picket lines go. Don't know
if the same can necessarily be said over at MGT's headquarters.
I can only imagine a lot more of their engineers
are gathering over there to just no op at pray
that management will agree to their demands to the higher

(06:04):
salaries to be more on par with what Long Island
Railroad and Metro North engineers are making at this current moment.
So we'll see what happens there. It's already a huge
ripple effect going on throughout the Tri State area. Traffic
in Manhattan already being impacted due to more bus and
car traffic into the city from commuters that wouldn't be
able to take the train. And not to mention, you

(06:25):
got congestion pricing still going on, so said drivers charge
just to get into the city alone. And there's no
timetable on when this could end. But here on pag's perspective,
you know, I like to try to take as neutral
of a perspective as possible, but here I'm union strong.
I mean the fact that these engineers are getting paid
ten to twenty dollars an hour less compared to other

(06:48):
commuter rail agencies in the area, not to mention being
the third biggest commuter railroad in the country, and they
can't pay their engineers properly while they spend hundreds of
millions on luck goods like decorations for their headquarters. It
just screams to me that NJT and the State of
New Jersey is just not managing their money the way

(07:09):
it should be. And you wonder why people want a
Republican governor to lead the State of New Jersey moving forward,
someone like Jack Shardarelli or Bill Spadia. You wonder why
because they know full well that a new voice, a
new party leading the state could hopefully lead to their
hard earned funds, their taxes actually going to stuff that matters,

(07:29):
like public transportation in the state, and it's only a
matter of time before we see its effects on the
political realm as well. So that's all we have for
now on the ongoing New Jersey transit strike. I'm Ryan
Pigano for PEG's perspective.