Midday News: Thousands Stranded by NJ Transit Rail Strike, and Mets and Yankees Face Off in Bronx

Janae Pierre: Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, May 16th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill.

Michael Hill: NJ Transit railroad engineers are on strike. Thousands of commuters have had to figure out how to get where they're going today. The PATH train and NJ Transit bus service are filling some gaps, but not for preschool teacher Monica Williams. She commutes to Edison from her home in Newark. This morning, she said no buses would take her near her school.

Monica Williams: Now there's a lot of people who won't make it to work today. Rent and everything else is already high. Now we're cut back on hours and things like that. Hopefully, they figure it out and we'll be back on the road Monday or tomorrow.

Michael Hill: The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen are calling for a raise that NJ Transit says it cannot afford. The two sides plan to return to talks on Sunday. A lot of attention on the Knicks in Liberty this weekend. Baseball fans that were talking about the Subway Series beginning tonight with both the Yankees and Mets in first place. Kavitha Davidson grew up a Yankees fan and now hosts the Sportly podcast. She says she remembers when the Mets and Yanks faced each other in a Subway World Series.

Kavitha Davidson: The city is just different when both teams are playing extraordinarily well. That's the case right now.

Michael Hill: Tim Ryder is a Mets fan and host of the Simply Amazin' podcast. He says the so-called Bleacher Creatures at Yankee Stadium are notorious for getting a little rowdy in high-stakes games.

Tim Ryder: Not just a battle on the field. There's a battle in the stands. If both teams are good, it should really be an extremely well-played and electric weekend. It really should.

Michael Hill: Former Yankee Juan Soto is making his return to Yankee Stadium as a Met game wins tonight at 7 in the Bronx. Clouds in 69 at game time and maybe some showers during the game. In the city right now, 70 with some rain with a chance for more afternoon showers.

Janae Pierre: Stay tuned for more after the break.

Michael Hill: New Jersey transit workers are on strike after negotiations fell apart late last night. It's the first major transit strike in the Garden State in more than 40 years. WNYC's Ramsey Khalifeh joins us now to talk us through it and walk us through what this means. Ramsey, what happened late last night?

Ramsey Khalifeh: The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, they represent more than 450 commuter line operators in New Jersey Transit. They went on strike at 12:01 AM. That's after a deal fell apart between New Jersey Transit President Kris Kolluri and the governor, Phil Murphy.

Michael Hill: What are the disagreements between the Locomotive Engineers Union and NJ Transit?

Ramsey Khalifeh: Well, Murphy and Kolluri, they made an announcement saying that they were very close to a deal, but ultimately there was a deadlock over pay, how much they want to pay them. They say they want to keep the transit agency fiscally responsible, and that the price that they were offering and that the union wanted would not get them there, that it would cost the agency too much. Just like in any major union strike or negotiation between an employer and a public union, it's overpay. They think that they deserve more.

Michael Hill: What does this mean now for commuters in New Jersey and for those in northern New York west of the Hudson, like in Rockland County?

Ramsey Khalifeh: Right. Luckily, Fridays are less busy of a commute day since the pandemic. We might not feel the bleeding the first day, but this strike shuts down commuter rail service entirely. Think about all the Jersey residents, maybe this weekend, who want to take a day trip into the city. Think about the Metro-North riders, west of the Hudson, those two lines that are operated by New Jersey Transit. That won't happen.

Like New Jersey Transit warned, commuters who can work from home, who have hybrid jobs, they're encouraging them to stay home because there are nurses, people who have essential jobs who need to be there. They're going to be taking the buses, the expanded shuttle service. Those groups are going to have to just take those alternative routes. That's because there's simply just going to be increased demand. They don't want people to crowd the only existing PATH trains, Amtrak, bus services. It's going to be pretty busy.

Michael Hill: We know that NJ Transit was preparing for this and have been telling people for days now about to plan for alternate ways to get there. Have they really laid out, as best we can tell? I know it's early. Have they really laid out this plan? Are those plans, alternate plans, really working?

Ramsey Khalifeh: Yes. At this point, I don't know how they're working. It's just been a few hours. What I can say is they've created a contingency plan that has been in preparations publicly for a couple weeks now. What we know is that there are four park and rides along the Garden State that will have shuttle service. Again, there's that notice if you can stay at home. They're encouraging you to stay at home. For Metro-North riders, there's going to be ferry and bus service to get across the Hudson and to cross honor tickets to the Harlem and Hudson lines. Those are the current plans that are in place to see how effective they are. We're just going to have to wait and find out.

Michael Hill: Now, Ramsey, I'm going to ask a question here, which everybody is thinking of this morning. Do we have any idea how long this could last?

Ramsey Khalifeh: I haven't spoken to the union this morning, but what I can say is we don't really have information at this time on how long it's going to last. We do know that New Jersey Transit and the BLET are meeting on Sunday with national mediators to talk about the current state--

Michael Hill: Sunday is striking now.

Ramsey Khalifeh: Exactly. It could last a few days so far. The last time New Jersey transit strike workers, they went on strike was in 1983, and that strike lasted a month before a deal was reached around, again, improved wages. I remember something interesting when I was reporting on this. The New York Times, a clip from 1983 noted that commuter rail cars that were found in the in the yards after the strike ended were filled with old newspapers, and those newspapers were dated to the night before the strike. Really shows how long that had lasted for.

Michael Hill: Ramsey, do we have any idea what union members are doing today?

Ramsey Khalifeh: Yes. The BLET members are going to hit the picket line. That includes at New York's Penn Station, includes Newark Penn, which is right across the street from New Jersey Transit's headquarter. They're going to be letting people know that, "Hey, if you feel the pain, this is because New Jersey Transit doesn't want to pay us." I think Penn Station is quite a notable place to picket. If you think about it, it's where Amtrak, NJ Transit, and MTA services meet.

The reason why they might be doing that is the union has argued that their salaries don't match that of other major transit agencies, that they feel they should be compensated equally for that, for the same positions. Again, NJ Transit argues, "Why would we pay our New Jersey Transit operators the salaries of people in New York?" That's what's going to happen today.

Michael Hill: Our guest has been WNYC's Ramsey Khalifeh. Great job, Ramsey. Thank you.

Ramsey Khalifeh: Thank you, Michael.

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Janae Pierre: Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WNYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a day, for the latest news headlines and occasional deep dives, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

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