The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced yesterday that its members who work for NJ Transit have voted — unanimously — to grant BLET National President Eddie Hall the authority to call a strike. Results show 81 percent of the eligible 494 union voters cast ballots, with 100 percent of them in support of strike authorization. In total, 399 ballots were returned, 397 were cast for strike authorization. Two ballots were ruled void.

NJT’s locomotive engineers have been seeking a new contract since October 2019. The contract dispute has been in National Mediation Board-sponsored mediation for nearly three years. The National Mediation Board (NMB) is the federal labor agency charged with facilitating labor-management relations for the nation’s railroads and airlines.

The union maintains that NJT should have wages closer to engineers’ wages at other commuter railroads. With the exception of one other transit agency, NJT’s engineers are the lowest paid engineers working in commuter service in the nation.

BLET members employed at NJT received a mailing from the union’s national office with a ballot and voting instructions earlier this month. The deadline for returning ballots was 12 p.m. on August 31.

-via Press Release