New Jersey Transit engineers strike, potentially affecting 350,000 commuters

Members of the railroad engineers union for New Jersey Transit went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Friday, crippling a system that around 350,000 people rely on, officials said.

Members of the railroad engineers union for New Jersey Transit went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Friday, crippling a system that around 350,000 people rely on, officials said.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said that its around 450 members in New Jersey Transit were walking off the job right after midnight in a dispute over pay, bringing the nation's third-largest transit system to a standstill.

Around an hour before that deadline, Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey Transit President Kris Kolluri told reporters that they wanted a fair deal for the union.

But they also said that they could not agree to a preferential deal that would cause the other unions in the transit system to demand the same, which Murphy said would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Adding to transport woes, delays were averaging 32 minutes at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday morning because of severe weather, the Federal Aviation Administration said.