New Jersey Transit Engineers Stage Sickout Strike Stranding 100,00 Commuters!

NJ Transit commuters scramble to find way home after rail service shuts  down due to union dispute - ABC7 New York

New Jersey Transit Commuters Scramble to Get Home after Union Member Sickout!

Dear Commons Community,

New Jersey Transit suspended rail service into and out of New York City last night after a day in which dozens of trains were canceled because of a lack of available engineers.

NJ Transit said the problem was the result of an illegal job action by the union representing locomotive engineers, who currently don’t have a collective bargaining agreement. The number of engineers who called out on Friday was triple the average number for a weekday, NJ Transit said.

An email message seeking comment was left with the union’s local chairperson Friday.

“NJ Transit is disappointed that the union would perpetrate such an act on the more than 100,000 commuters who depend on NJ Transit rail service every day,” the state-operated transit corporation said in a statement. “We intend to explore all legal remedies in response to this illegal and irresponsible action.”

In an email Friday evening, New Jersey Transit said the last trains on 11 rail lines leaving New York, which normally operate until after midnight, would depart between about 7:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.

Rail tickets were being cross-honored on bus and light rail lines as well as on PATH trains operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and ferries operated by NY Waterway.

New Jersey Transit is the country’s third-largest provider of bus, rail and light rail transit.

As a lifelong union member, I generally support job actions by labor organizations but I do not support what happened yesterday where 100,000 workers were stranded on a Friday night after putting in their day’s effort.

Tony

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