N.J. Transit and Unions to Continue Negotiations as Strike Looms

New Jersey Transit and its rail workers’ unions will continue negotiations on Monday in Newark, as both sides try to reach an agreement over wages and benefits before a threatened strike on March 13.

The discussions will come after eight hours of talks in Washington on Friday, where a federal mediation board tried to help break a monthslong impasse between the agency and its 4,200 rail workers.

An official for New Jersey Transit declined on Sunday to offer details about the continuing talks. But at a rally in Woodbridge, N.J., on Saturday, Stephen Burkert, a spokesman for the 11 rail unions, called the daylong session “productive.”

“Both sides are moving in the right direction, progressing toward an ultimate agreement,” Mr. Burkert said after a nearly 90-minute rally at which hundreds of sign-waving workers were joined by New Jersey labor leaders, state and federal politicians and union supporters from the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad.

Democrats and union officials took aim at Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, arguing that ultimate control of the agency rests with him. Mr. Christie has been facing mounting criticism at home for ignoring New Jersey’s problems while campaigning unsuccessfully for president.

Under its contingency plans for a strike, New Jersey Transit has said that it would be able to accommodate only about 40,000 of the 105,000 commuters who travel by train from New Jersey to New York City each weekday. The plans include extra service on more than two dozen New Jersey Transit bus routes, which would continue to be served during a strike, and the addition of five park-and-ride locations where commuters could ride a bus to the city, or to ferry and PATH stops. Officials have said rail tickets would be honored on buses, the light rail, private buses, PATH and New York Waterway ferries.

Officials have also said commuters should plan to car pool, leave for work early or work from home.

Rail workers have been working without a new contract since 2011. The unions have proposed wage increases of about 17 percent over six and a half years, with workers contributing a portion of their pay, up to 2.5 percent, toward health coverage.

Agency officials have said the unions’ demands would amount to higher costs of about $183 million and could require fare increases. A presidential emergency board, created by President Obama last fall to help resolve the dispute, sided with the unions but the agency rejected the board’s recommendations.

Source: The New York Times