contract negotiations are back at square one for New Jersey Transit and its locomotive engineers union the rail agency rescended its latest contract offer after union members overwhelmingly voted against it sending the two sides back to the drawing board with just about three weeks before a mid-may strike or lockout could take effect senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan has the latest one two three officials this morning celebrated cutting the ribbon on NJ Transit's new Lindhurst station but behind the scenes they're scrambling circling the wagons against a looming strike by train engineers who overwhelmingly voted down NJ Transit's latest contract offer a strike would stop the railroad dead in its tracks for 350,000 commuters and while new negotiations are scheduled this week neither side's giving in on wage increases because I have heard this refrain from the union now over 3 months that their members are very angry that they won't be able to get a $55,000 a year pay raise well I will tell you who else is going to be even more angry the riders of the system our choices are take it or leave it and New Jersey Transits engineers simply do not like that choice the opponents have posted dueling websites nj Transit states union wage demands would drive fairs up 17% and require a 27% increase in New Jerseyy's controversial corporate transit fee union leaders rejected that out of hand so they're just trying to create a an inflated number to to shock the public and ignore the fact that engineers have a greater wage gap than just about every other employee of New Jersey Transit Rail when you compare them to other railroads the engineers website posted a strike countdown clock showing the train stop May 16th and that its members will vote down anything less than wage parody with engineers on New York commuter railroads that's a non-starter for NJ Transit CEO i don't have the luxury of living in the land of puppies and rainbows i live in the land where we have to be fiscally constrained and run a railroad every single day and that's what we will do and I look forward to continue negotiating with the union till we get to a deal nj Transit says it's fully staffed with 420 engineers on board but the union claims it's actually understaffed and that some have already left for better paying jobs on Sunday social media posts noted widespread cancellations across the system due to scheduled engineers not being available but both sides explained that was a normal shift change issue we will not be engaging in any type of a job action that is illegal under the Railway Labor Act we absolutely did not then we will not in the future if there is a cintillaa of evidence that something is not right you can be rest assured we will be prepared to take full action the agency estimates providing limited alternate transit service during a strike could cost taxpayers $4 million a day given current political and marketplace instability business leaders want to avoid any further tax hikes or service disruptions if you get to an impass uh then yes because we need this system to continue we would need the governor to come in and say "No you can't strike."

We would need the federal government to come in and say "No you can't strike."

Because the impact on the New Jersey residents is not an impact that they should have to be a part of nj Transits avoided a strike for more than 40 years but these negotiations have persisted despite federal mediation nj Transit finally rescended its latest offer after engineers rejected the tenative agreement regional analysts are hoping for a resolution that's fiscally responsible whatever solution does come out of this negotiation just needs to be sustainable for both the state and the employees and make sure that the system is still able to serve the riders because is a critical utility of our state contract talks resume Wednesday morning and NJ Transit will announce plans to deal with a potential strike later this week i'm Brenda Flanigan NJ Spotlight News