Talks aimed at ending New Jersey Transit rail strike to resume Saturday, railroad CEO says

NEWARK N J AP Talks aimed at settling a strike between train engineers and New Jersey s huge commuter railroad will pick up on Saturday and continue Sunday New Jersey Transit CEO Kris Kolluri stated The locomotive engineers strike began Friday at the rail system with daily riders and left commuters either working from home or searching for other means to journey across the state or over the Hudson River to New York City Kolluri spoke Saturday at Newark s Broad Street Station saying the agency is preparing for the workweek commute by surging buses to help commuters at train stations But he cautioned that the buses can t handle the entire volume of the commuter rail system Kolluri stated he and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen President Mark Wallace spoke and agreed to meet Saturday It had been uncertain whether the two sides would meet ahead of a National Mediation Board meeting already set for Sunday We re going to meet the union this day We re going to meet them the next morning with this goal of getting to a deal so we can get them back to work get our customers the reliable organization they need Kolluri stated A message seeking comment Saturday was left with the union The walkout comes after the latest round of negotiations on Thursday didn t produce an agreement It is the state s first transit strike in more than years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management Wallace walked the picket line Friday outside New York City s Penn Station and reported the engineers are committed to staying on strike until they get a fair deal Union members were nearly unanimous in authorizing a strike last summer and of them rejected the latest agreement Wallace reported NJ Transit demands to pay engineers a wage that s comparable to Amtrak and Long Island Railroad because engineers are leaving for jobs on those other railroads for better pay The union has seen steady attrition in its ranks at NJ Transit as more members leave to take better-paying jobs at other railroads The number of NJ Transit engineers has shrunk from several months ago to about The engineers are responsible for operating trains ensuring safe and smooth delivery between stations New Jersey Democratic Gov Phil Murphy mentioned Friday that it is key to reach a final deal that is both fair to employees and at the same time affordable to New Jersey s commuters and taxpayers NJ Transit is the nation s third-largest transit system and operates buses and rail in the state providing nearly million weekday trips including into New York City The walkout halts all NJ Transit commuter trains which provide heavily used masses transit routes between Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other as well as the Newark airport which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own of late Source