Biden Orders Second PEB in NJ Transit-BLET Contract Dispute
The contract dispute has been in National Mediation Board (NMB) sponsored mediation for nearly three years. According to BLET, its NJ Transit locomotive-engineer members have been seeking a new labor agreement since October 2019 and “are the lowest paid engineers working in commuter service in the nation.”
Officials at NJ Transit, which runs the nation’s third-largest commuter railroad, requested the PEB’s establishment under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act.
President Joe Biden on Nov. 21 signed an Executive Order creating PEB No. 252 to help resolve the dispute.
The White House announced that the following members have been named to the Board:
- Ira F. Jaffe: Chair, PEB No. 252. Jaffe has served as a full-time arbitrator and mediator of labor and employment disputes since 1981 and has presided over more than 6,000 cases in a wide variety of industries in the private and public sectors and serves on more than 80 permanent arbitration panels. Jaffe has served on six prior PEBs—PEB 236 (2001), PEB 241 (2007), and PEB 242 (2007), and served as Chair on PEB 243 (2011), PEB 244 (2013), and PEB 250 (2022). President Biden formed PEB 250 to resolve a dispute between most major freight railroads (and many smaller ones) and their 12 labor unions representing some 145,000 unionized rail workers.
- Sidney Moreland: Member, PEB No. 252. Moreland has been a professional arbitrator for 40 years, during which he has helped resolve hundreds of civil and labor disputes in all industrial sectors and professional sports. Moreland has experience on transportation issues presiding over 70 Public Law Boards serving every Class I railroad in the United States—a form of tribunal established by the National Mediation Board for the arbitration of disputes between unions, airlines, and rail carriers.
- Thomas Pontolillo: Member, PEB No. 252. Pontolillo has served as a professional arbitrator since 2022, and has been appointed to the arbitrators’ rosters of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the National Mediation Board. Prior to 2022, Pontolillo served as Assistant to the National President and Director of Research for the BLET. He began his career as a BLET member, working as a locomotive fireman and a locomotive engineer for Penn Central railroad, Consolidated Rail Corporation, and NJ Transit Rail Operations.
The first PEB—PEB No. 251, which President Biden formed in July 2024—released a report in August that included recommendations to help settle the dispute. That report, BLET said on Nov. 26, “was not acceptable to either party.”
According to NJ Transit Chief Communications Officer Jim Smith, “BLET rejected the entirety of PEB 251’s recommendations and report.” NJ Transit, he told Railway Age on Nov. 27, “accepted the report in part (those parts consistent with our pattern).”
With a new PEB established, the “status quo” period continues, meaning that no work stoppages are permitted.
What Happens Next?
Pursuant to Section 9(a) of the Railway Labor Act (RLA), which sets forth special procedures for handling disputes at commuter railroads, BLET and NJ Transit are required to submit “final offers for settlement of the dispute” within the next 30 days (on or before Dec. 21, 2024), according to BLET. Then, within 30 days following the submission of final offers, the PEB 252 is required to submit a report to President Biden “setting forth its selection of the most reasonable offer” (due on Jan. 20, 2025), the union said. The PEB 252’s report will not be binding, but in general, such reports have formed the basis for an agreement.
According to the timeline published by the NMB (see below; courtesy of BLET), “status quo” will continue for another 60 days, with parties free to engage in self-help at 12:01 a.m. on March 22, 2025, BLET said.
According to BLET, the rate of pay for locomotive engineers has been a major sticking point in the dispute with NJ Transit. “The carrier insists on implementing a pattern-based contract settlement accepted by other rail unions on the property,” BLET said. “However, BLET contends that such pattern-based contracts don’t account for two years of specialized training to become an engineer and the knowledge and expertise required to qualify to operate trains. The union maintains that any pattern should be based on what locomotive engineers at other commuter railroads in the region earn and not on other craft unions at NJT.”
In a Nov. 27 statement to Railway Age, NJ Transit’s Jim Smith said: “NJ TRANSIT remains committed to arriving at a resolution that is both fair and sustainable for NJ TRANSIT, the hard-working members of the BLET, and New Jersey taxpayers. We will continue to assert that the pattern-based agreements accepted by 14 of our 15 rail unions are fair and reasonable. NJ TRANSIT appreciates the first Presidential Emergency Board’s (PEB) thoughtful consideration and we were pleased that the first PEB’s recommendation included the acceptance of the pattern-based general wage increases in our original proposal.”
According to NJ.com, “[i]n 2015 and 2016 two Presidential Emergency Boards, or PEBs, were formed after mediation with a coalition of rail unions [at NJ Transit] failed to produce an agreement. NJ Transit rejected the final PEB recommendation as ‘unaffordable.’ Ultimately a settlement was reached later in 2016.”
