Rail Unions Sign Contracts With NJ TRANSIT, Avoiding Strike
NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNEwYork/AP) -- Two rail unions have signed contracts with NJ TRANSIT, averting a potential strike.
Unions representing locomotive engineers and conducts ratified the contracts on Friday and Saturday, respectively. They were the last of 11 rail unions to do so.
The Associated Press first reported the two unions had reached tentative agreements with the agency on June 25.
The other nine rail unions had signed contracts after a tentative agreement was reached in March, about a day before a strike deadline.
The unions were seeking an 18.4 percent pay raise over a period of seven years, as well as pay retroactive to 2011. They also wanted health insurance costs capped at 2.5 percent of base pay.
NJ TRANSIT issued the $183 million estimate for that plan — for just the first two years. The agency has instead proposed a 10.9 percent raise over seven years, with employees contributing 20 percent of their base salaries toward health insurance.
The unions had been working without a contract for about five years. NJ TRANSIT had said fares might have to be raised to cover the costs associated with the new contracts, but no increases have been announced.
Specific details on the contracts weren't immediately available.
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