NEWARK, New Jersey — Train operators at the nation’s third-largest transit system went on strike early Friday morning, upending the commutes for hundreds of thousands of people who work in and around New York City.
The strike is a rare labor shutdown at a commuter railroad and is the first at NJ Transit since 1983. It follows six years of negotiations between Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
The two sides could not reach an agreement on wages, and the union said it would strike.
Advertisement
In a late-night press conference Thursday, Murphy said giving the union too much could endanger NJ Transit’s financial health and burden taxpayers and riders.
