BLET members ratify seven-year pact with NJ Transit

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) members employed at New Jersey Transit yesterday voted to accept a tentative seven-year agreement reached with the commuter railroad on May 18. Eighty-nine percent of BLET members cast ballots, with 95% voting in favor of the contract. 

The ratification vote ended a contract battle that lasted five years and included a three-day strike last month. Covering the years 2020 to 2027, the contract addresses rates of pay and other issues for the 450 locomotive engineers at NJ Transit. 

The pact includes a significant pay raise for engineers who were previously the lowest paid engineers working for a major U.S. commuter railroad, BLET officials said in a press release. The engineers had not received a pay raise since 2020, they added. The engineers also will receive retroactive wages and a signing bonus. 

“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. Now, through this vote, our members have told us that the terms agreed to are both fair and acceptable,” said BLET National President Mark Wallace. 

NJ Transit board members will vote on the contract today at their regularly scheduled meeting. 

The contract is a “fair and fiscally responsible agreement” for the railroad's engineers and customers, as well as New Jersey taxpayers, said NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri in a prepared statement.

“From the outset, Gov. [Phil] Murphy and I were clear that any agreement must balance fair compensation with budgetary discipline — and this contract delivers on both,” he said. “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.”