By Walter Elliott
NEWARK – U.S. New Jersey District Judge Catherine P. O’Hara may add to her June 19 “cease and desist” ruling against the NJTransit locomotive engineers who called out over the June 17-19 weekend, causing NJTransit to suspend all statewide commuter rail operations for the rest of June 17 7 p.m. Friday.
The June 17 disruption, believed to be over Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen not getting a Juneteenth paid holiday from NJTransit, affected an estimated 100,000 daily riders on the carrier’s eight class I commuter railroad lines.
Riders – including those on the Morris & Essex, Montclair-Boonton, Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast and Raritan Valley lines – experienced further delays and/or cancellations due to further engineer absences Saturday and Sunday.
O’Hara and attorneys from NJTransit and the BLET Locals 171 and 272 were scheduled to reconvene their June 19 hearing in Camden at 2 p.m. June 21.
O’Hara, in a rare Sunday hearing, ruled that those BLET engineers whose calling out June 17-19 “can reasonably be construed as a job action.” The judge ordered BLET local leaders to tell its marked out engineers to “immediately” end any work stoppage.
The two BLET locals, furthermore, are barred from “calling, permitting, instigating, authorizing, encouraging, participating in, approving or continuing any form of interference with NJT’s transit operations, including but not limiting to any strike, work stoppage, sick-out, slowdown, refusal to work overtime.”
That bar is in place until NJTransit and the BLET complete their contract negotiations. BLET, the last of NJTransit’s 15 labor unions, without a new contract, has been at the bargaining table. since 2020.
Both parties, as of press time, were into a third week of compulsory mediation by the National Mediation Board.
Juneteenth – either as a June 17 state or a June 20 federal holiday – became an issue with the BLET in the last year.
Both sides had honored the third-Friday-in June state observance as a paid holiday in 2021 but will “address the holiday” in further contacts. The other 14 unions meanwhile received Juneteenth as a paid holiday (or be paid overtime).
This is why Juneteenth appears as a “major holiday” on the latest NJTransit bus timetables but not its current commuter rail schedules.
NJTransit bus and light rail timetables issued April 2, like for the No. 13 route, include Juneteenth as one of the occasions where a special holiday schedule would be used since the June 19 observance fell on a Sunday.
A June 14 message by SMART-TD (UTU) Local 60, informed its members that they are to run “a regular weekday” schedule on the Friday paid holiday. Newark-based Local 60 covers bus and light rail operators.
Juneteenth, however, is not found among the major holiday list on NJTransit’s latest commuter rail schedules.
NJTransit, among its June 17 filings to O’Hara for a court injunction, said they were hearing “rumors” of a sick-out as early as June 14. The nation’s largest statewide carrier attached a June 16 mass e-mail from BLET General Chairman Jim Brown to his members.
“NJT has made it clear that Engineers will not be paid for the holiday,” declared Brown’s message. “Don’t let that deter you from celebrating THE HOLIDAY!!!”
June 17, the state’s observance, began with the usual volume of canceled bus and train runs like any other recent Friday. The number of commuter rail runs canceled or delayed, however, began to grow after the morning rush hour.
Up to 205 engineers, from a roster of 393, would call out. The 205 are two and a half times above an average Friday “sick-out” rate.
Up to 70 trainsets would stay in their yards, prompting NJTransit to cancel nearly 300 runs that day. NJTransit, by midday, received cross honoring of rail tickets and passes from its bus routes and light rail lines, most private bus carriers, PATH and PATCO.
The marking out caused NJTransit to replace its NEC Princeton “Dinky” shuttle with buses. Some trains were recast as all-stop locals.
Larger than usual rider volume began crowding New York and Newark’s Penn Stations, Hoboken Terminal, Newark Broad Street Station and other major rail hubs. Service to New York’s Spring Valley and Port Jervis were affected since NJT operates their service on the MTA Metro North Railroad’s behalf.
NJTransit at 7 p.m. threw in the railroad towel at 7 p.m. The carrier issued the following last trains of that night:
From NYPS:
MBL Train No. 6291 to Montclair at 7:37
M&E Train No. 6667 to Dover at 8:05
NEC 3881 at 7:44
From Newark PS:
RVL No. 5747 at 7:13
From Hoboken:
MBL No. 1085 to Hackettstown at 7:22
M&E No. 443 to Gladstone at 7:44
Pascack Valley Line No. 1641 to Spring Valley at 7:28
Bergen County Main Line No. 1127 at 7:46
Main Line No. 65 to Pt. Jervis at 7:57
Bergen Co Line No. 1177 at 8:13
To Hoboken:
PVL No. 1634 from Spring Valley at 9:07
BCML No. 68 fr. Pt. Jervis at 9:22
M&E No. 948 fr. Gladstone at 9:28
ML No. 1136 fr. Suffern at 9:47
BC No. 1186 fr. Suffern at 10:17
NJTransit’s Atlantic City-30th Street, Philadelphia Station was also axed Friday night.
“The engineers should’ve called their stoppage a day ahead so people could have planned,” said one NYPS rider to a reporter.
Although NJTransit resumed Saturday operations June 18, 143 engineers called out – 44 percent above that day’s average.
There were 133 engineers out before O’Hara issued her order. NJTransit, on its MyBus phone service, said “all railroad lines have resumed regular operations.”
Those attempting to reach Newark Liberty International Airport had to take NJT’s No. 62 bus, among other alternatives, found “insult to injury” that weekend. They arrived to find some of their scheduled departures cancelled by airlines due to a combination of staff shortages and bad continental U.S. weather.
A BLET official’s message echoed O’Hara’s June 19 ruling in that all unauthorized absences were subject to “discipline, fines and jail” under the Federal Railway Act. The same message included the union’s prohibition of its members using “self-help” job actions.
The Lackawanna Coalition commuter advocacy group, which represents “Local Talk” area rail riders, will discuss the wildcat strike 6:45 p.m. June 27 at its monthly Millburn town hall meeting.
The NJTransit Board of Directors’ next monthly meeting is set for 9 a.m., July 13 here at its One Penn Plaza headquarters.
