contract negotiations at New Jersey Transit could come to a screeching halt if the agency and its unionized train Engineers can't work out a deal including pay raises the 500 members represented by the national Brotherhood of locomotive engineers and trainmen are the last of 15 New Jersey Transit rail unions left to settle a new contract they're seeking salary increases they argue put them on par with other rail agencies in the Region Transit officials are trying to keep Riders calm pointing to a federal court order they say prevents Engineers from walking off the job but a senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports members are already receiving ballots in the mail as they prepare to vote and authorize a strike in 2018 NJ Transit went off the rails a summer engineer shortage often canceled more than 20 trains a day leaving rail Riders stranded and angry after that tobacco the agency spent years training and hiring more than a hundred newly graduated Engineers but now their Union claims contract negotiations with NJ Transit sit dead on the tracks gridlocked over wage demands the unions called a strike authorization vote and I'm sure they've had enough uh when it comes to four years without a pay raise they're ready to move on they move hundreds of thousands of people every day so they need to be paid for what they do our locomotive Engineers feel like they're underpaid and and not appreciate it the New Jersey Transit Engineers can walk across the platform and get a 20 uh pay raise today per hour Union officials note Amtrak's new contract offer its Engineers 61 bucks an hour while NJ transits earned 39 less than counterparts at almost every other commuter Railroad in the region they want parity with fellow Engineers NJ Transit settled with 14 out of 15 labor unions but sites a looming billion dollar deficit in 2026. we also need to be the financially responsible and I think the fact that the other unions have accepted a three-year extension at three percent I think strikes that balance we are negotiating you know going through mediation uh and there's a process and we respect that process NJ Transit CEO Kevin Corbett says the agency has to live within its means and expects to continue in need mediation but the union the Brotherhood of locomotive engineers and trainment sees no point and they question NJ transit's budget priorities especially its recent decision to lease expensive office space at two Gateway in Newark it was like rubbing salt in a wound when they come out and say that they're going to spend 440 million dollars on a penthouse Office Space when they haven't settled the contract with with the locomotive engineers and training how would you respond to that yeah the lease is a whole separate issue you know that glad to go into that but that's yeah that's just a tactic saying where are we spending their money trying to pit management against uh you know the unionized workforce but it also raises questions for Republican legislative leaders who recognize a campaign issue and plan to meet with a union because they're saying to themselves wait a minute you can afford to put yourself into a luxury lease but you can't afford to pay your workers a fair livable wage and that's a tough position to get out of and New Jersey Transit should have seen that coming and they didn't we're not going anywhere right now uh this is going back and forth and there's no movement at all strike authorization ballots go out this Friday and the union will tally them up August 31st if it's released from Talks by the national mediation board next month it could go to arbitration but the union still faces strict rules under the railway Labor Act that could delay any actual strike possibly into next year by taking a strike vote that that will help move the process along and we'll be ready so that if we get released from mediation we can move forward I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight News