governor Murphy says the state is preparing for the worst ahead of what appears to be an imminent New Jersey transit strike its union locomotive engineers are preparing to walk off the job at midnight Thursday if they can't strike a contract deal with transit leadership the two sides have been at odds over salary increases and negotiations have grown contentious in the last couple of weeks the impass means tens of thousands of rail commuters will be left scrambling to find alternate ways to work ted Goldberg reports [Music] commuters are worried that train stations could go quiet on Friday their concern level huge because all I see are the indicators that it's going to happen i don't see any indicators that there's any talking yeah you're very concerned about because I grew up in Jersey City i don't have a license or a car so I have to take the train without the train I won't be able to commute to work i'm at the university so I have students that I have to meet nj Transit and the union representing its engineers have until midnight Thursday to agree to a deal otherwise engineers go on strike for the first time since 1983 it seems like it's going to happen because people are fighting for the right cause perhaps I know that they want an increase in salary but I hope they come to a bargaining table where they can meet in the middle and negotiate both sides have publicly blamed the other for negotiations taking this long tough talk is nothing new in the world of organized labor i think they want to disrupt the public and I think that they want to have another strike and I think that's what they're going to have if they want it he's not going to give anyone any notice and that he might very well call people out at any possible time that's the height of irresponsibility that was one day before the last strike in 1983 which lasted 34 days the current standoff is unique for a few reasons according to labor professor Bill Dwire the engineers have been working for some six years without a contract which is an eternity in the world of labor relations dwire says labor contracts are not typically negotiated through news conferences and press releases last Friday NJ Transit CEO Chris Caller accused union leadership of violating a handshake agreement after a deal agreed upon by leadership was overwhelmingly voted down by the union's rank and file most times union leaders are very very in tune with uh what their membership is expecting uh usually there's a lot of discussion about setting expectations long before negotiations even begin i just think it was a a you know a miscalculation a very serious one both sides met on Monday in Washington DC meeting with the National Mediation Board and they haven't issued public updates other than confirming that negotiations are happening the National Mediation Board does great work i know they've been involved in the past and it's not been successful but I think at this point I think um they're going to be successful at least I'm hopeful they will be and so do leaders around the state i'm hoping and praying that they can find the common ground that we need to find to avoid a strike we have to prepare for the worst but we're hoping for the best we need this uh issue um to be resolved as quickly as possible and hopefully it doesn't get to that point sheena Colum is the mayor of South Orange a village with a ton of commuters and she's the lieutenant governor candidate on Steve Fulip's ticket they've been through a summer of hell a winter of hell fall spring you name it she says a strike would mean more people in buses more drivers and cars and a need for more crossing guards in South Orange we're going to have more people driving into our downtown which is already uh pretty bustling we have a lot of students who walk throughout South Orange and Maplewood and adding this number of cars is um a little scary so we got to make sure we take precautions also with crossing guards nj Transit's contingency plan includes more buses to New York City from four parking rides including this one at Woodward Center that won't be enough to accommodate most rail riders so municipalities like South Orange are partnering with private operators to provide bus service the company Boxcar will give South Orange residents roundtrip service to the city for about $30 while other commuters consider more expensive options ubers Lift I mean it's very costly in the pockets it's not going to be a cheap ride it's going to cost me a lot i think Amtrak there's no set pricing it's very it's like variable so uh NG translates $14 amtrak can be like up to 100 a day i plan on working from home on Friday and then thinking about what I'm going to do next week if it continues if no deal is reached by the deadline the White House and even Congress could intervene and mandate a temporary settlement in the meantime commuters are waiting for updates and researching alternate ways to get around in Edison i'm Ted Goldberg NJ 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