WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden has formed a second emergency presidential council to address the dispute between NJ Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

The three members of the board were announced by the White House on November 21. The board now has 60 days to prepare a report selecting the offer it considers most reasonable; its selection prevents any work stoppage for 120 days.

The first board was appointed in July (see “Presidential Emergency Board Named…,” Trains Newswire, July 25, 2024). It sided with NJ Transit’s argument that BLET should receive the same increases as those of the transit agency’s other 14 rail unions, at 12%, incompatible, over 4½ years, and recommended three years of additional increases of 3 %, as well as two lump sum payments of $1,500 each. That would represent an increase of 21% over a period of 7.5 years. The union, which says it is the lowest paid among commuter rail engineers in the country, sought a 15.36% “pay equity match” on top of NJ Transit’s offer, as well as three years of 3% pay increases, for a total raise of 36.36 % over 7.5 years (see “Presidential Emergency Board Recommends…,” News Wire, September 5, 2024).

NJ Transit engineers have been working without a contract since 2019 and have authorized a strike in 2023 (see “NJ Transit engineers vote to strike,” News Wire, September 1, 2023). But the two sides must complete the lengthy process laid out in the Railway Labor Law before work stoppages are possible.