Rail strike latest: NJ Transit, BLET chairman agree that talks are ‘moving in the right direction’
Four hundred engineers and trainees stepped off the job and on to the picket line on Friday in the hopes of receiving better pay.
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NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri says Saturday’s negotiations with the rail engineers union on Day 2 of the rail strike were “constructive.”
He issued a statement Saturday afternoon:
"Today's discussions continued to be constructive. We've mutually agreed to adjourn formal discussions for the day but will continue talking and look forward to resuming discussions tomorrow."
As union representatives left Saturday's meeting, News 12 caught up with B.L.E.T. General Chairman Tom Haas, who said he feels optimistic moving ahead.
"…We're sitting down and talking, we're moving in the right direction," Haas said.
Haas echoed Kolluri's statement that they are "about 95% of the way there," but said it has been that way for the last two years.
"It's just these last few issues that have been so difficult to work out," Haas said.
The National Mediation Board will get involved again Sunday as roughly 350,000 daily riders are affected by the rail strike.
"We want to be back at work. We want to be running the trains. My guys would like nothing more than to be at work and not out here," Haas said.
Engineers hit the picket line on Friday for the first rail strike since 1983. About 450 engineers and trainees remain on strike with hopes of getting better pay.
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