NJ Transit Seeks Fines, Permanent Strike Ban In Juneteenth Union Suit

NEW JERSEY - NJ Transit asked a federal court to issue a permanent restraining order and fine a union representing NJ Transit train engineers, citing a June 17 job action that canceled hundreds of trains and suspended service in protest of Juneteenth overtime holiday pay, according to court documents.

An amended lawsuit filed Friday in New Jersey district court seeks to permanently prevent the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen - which represents NJ Transit engineers - from executing similar protests during the current negotiating period. NJ Transit is also seeking an undisclosed amount of money to cover damages incurred during the job action as the agency implemented bus carriers, ferries and overtime pay for engineers while regular railway service was shut down.

“Despite Defendants’ illegal job action, NJT operated as many trains as possible for as long as it could on June 17, 2022 when the stock market was open and while thousands of people relied on NJT’s service,” the lawsuit reads.

“Unfortunately, despite NJT’s emergency efforts, it was forced to suspend train service on a line-by-line basis … By 7:44 p.m., there were no NJT trains running out of New York, Newark, or Hoboken. Thousands of commuters and residents were stranded. To combat this public emergency, NJ Transit opened cross-honoring with other carriers. The problem was simple - there were not enough engineers working to continue operating the rail service.”

The June 17 callouts amounted to about two and a half times more than average Friday mark-offs, a federal judge said last week. 143 engineers also called out Saturday and 133 engineers called out on Sunday. A federal court already issued a temporary restraining order on June 19 prohibiting further job actions until a hearing last week.

NJ Transit "became aware of a rumor" on June 15 that the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLE&T) union might initiate an "illegal job action" on June 17, having engineers "mark off" work in protest of holiday pay schedules surrounding the Juneteenth holiday.

Juneteenth, celebrated June 19, was a state holiday in New Jersey before it was a federal holiday; the state recognized it on June 17. NJ Transit told Patch that the engineers' union did not sign a contract giving them Friday off of work.

According to the lawsuit, on May 10, NJ Transit’s Deputy General Manager of Labor Relations and Administration James Devine sent a memo to all BLET employees noting that Juneteenth was unavailable as a holiday for extra pay or vacation to union members. Devine called the union’s general chairman Jim Brown regarding the job action rumor on June 15, explaining that the union and NJ Transit are “in status quo of negotiations, and that any job action would be unlawful and met with a response from NJT.”

NJ Transit filed a complaint in New Jersey district court the day of the job action asking the federal judge to bar train engineers from engaging in further actions. Over 200 engineers called out on Friday, according to court documents, resulting in an estimated 300 canceled trains.

The “engineers called out in such significant numbers as to constitute an illegal job action in violation of their federal statutory obligations under the Railway Labor Act,” NJ Transit's complaint reads. "This concerted effort is nothing more than a schematic plan strategically designed by BLE to put pressure on NJT in collective bargaining negotiations. As a result of the BLE's narrow minded intentions, NJT's operations have been severally [sic] disrupted while simultaneously ravaging the lives of hundreds of thousands of NJT passengers whose lives depend on NJT's reliability."

The parties are set to meet again on July 5 via telephone conference to submit a proposed joint discovery plan.