After failing to reach a deal with NJ Transit on Thursday night, The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) walked off the job at 12:01 a.m., with wages being the main sticking point. Overall, 350,000 commuters across the state could be affected.
“Over the past several weeks and months, we have been working around the clock to avoid this strike and keep NJ Transit operating at full capacity. As always, our single-highest priority has always been to provide the best possible service to our state’s commuters and taxpayers,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “This strike will upend the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans.
“My message tonight to our locomotive engineers is this: The path to a new contract will be paved at the negotiating table, not the picket line. Ultimately, it is the people of New Jersey who will suffer because of this strike. I am calling on our locomotive engineers to remain at the negotiating table to reach a fair and affordable deal so we can get the trains moving again as soon as possible and avoid raising costs on riders and taxpayers.”
About 30 minutes before the 11:59 p.m. deadline, the BLET said in a statement, “After 15 hours of nonstop contract talks today, no agreement on a wage increase was reached this evening.”
BLET also said NJ Transit managers “walked out of the talks shortly before 10 p.m., and through their actions have forced a strike despite the transit agency having the funds for a raise.”
Members of BLET began picketing early Friday.
“Our members at NJ Transit had the full support of our national union, as well as the Teamsters,” said BLET National President Mark Wallace. “NJ Transit has a half-billion dollars for a swanky new headquarters and $53 million for decorating the interior of that unnecessary building. They gave away $20 million in revenue during a fare holiday last year. They have money for penthouse views and pet projects, just not for their front-line workers. Enough is enough. We will stay out until our members receive the fair pay that they deserve.”
The strike comes after a tentative agreement was reached on March 10, 2025, that the leadership of BLET previously called “fair and responsible.” BLET is the only union of NJ Transit’s 15 rail unions that has not signed the initial pattern bargaining agreement.
I have always said that any deal we reach would have to be fair to our engineers and fiscally responsible without burdening our riders or the taxpayers of New Jersey,” said NJ Transit President & CEO Kris Kolluri. “While we, unfortunately, were unable to finalize a deal Thursday night, I am committed, as I have been since my first day on the job in January, to remaining at the bargaining table for as long as it takes to get an agreement finalized. We have an obligation to the hundreds of thousands of NJ Transit customers to work around the clock until a deal is reached and rail service can resume for all those who rely on it every day.”
“This is not something that we undertake lightly,” said BLET General Chairman Tom Haas. “We completely understand the impact that a strike can and will have on all the commuters of New Jersey. But ultimately, let’s be clear, this rests at the feet NJ Transit. They could have avoided this. They could have avoided this for the last five and a half years.”
The last transit strike was in 1983, which lasted about a month.
NJ Transit created a contingency plan for commuters prior to the strike deadline. It can be found here.
The New Jersey Business and Industry Association and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce raised concerns about the impact negotiations might have on the corporate transit fee.
“We maintain that any agreement should not require ANY additional increase in the Corporate Transit Fee, which already gives New Jersey the highest corporate tax rate in the nation, by far,” Tom Bracken, president and CEO of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce said. “This strike undermines the very purpose of the new corporate transit fee. As we stated previously, the fee was intended to fix and modernize NJ Transit—not to fund unreasonable wage increases or to become a bargaining chip in labor disputes. The end result of this strike cannot be a further increase in the corporate transit fee, a tax paid for by New Jersey employers. Businesses across New Jersey are already burdened, and additional costs will only drive investment and jobs out of the state.”
