Brennan and Bhalla Call on NJ Transit to End the Strike, Respect Their Workers and Riders
Assembly candidates say NJ Transit budgets shouldn’t be balanced on the backs of workers and riders
As thousands of commuters face major disruptions following the start of the NJ Transit rail strike at midnight, Assembly candidates Katie Brennan and Ravi Bhalla criticized years of transit underfunding and called for fair treatment of workers.
The strike comes after months of failed contract negotiations between NJ Transit and its rail workers, who have been working without a contract for years while remaining the lowest-paid passenger rail workers in the region.
The disruption also follows NJ Transit's controversial 15% fare increase implemented last year, which included automatic 3% increases every year after, forcing riders to pay more for increasingly unreliable service.
"What are we even doing here? This is the most densely populated state in the country and we can't even keep our rail system running," said Katie Brennan, housing policy expert and Assembly candidate for the 32nd district. "NJ Transit's leadership has completely failed their workers and the thousands of riders who are now scrambling to get where they need to go. Transit riders have already suffered enough, putting up with years of delays, overcrowding, and no-show trains."
"This is a structural problem, not the fault of our engineers," said Brennan. “We can't blame the workers when the real problem is decades of underfunding by lawmakers in Trenton. They've repeatedly chosen to cut funding rather than improve service, balancing budgets on the backs of riders and workers. This is no way to run transit in one of the busiest corridors in America. Our riders deserve so much better than this."
Hoboken Mayor and Assembly candidate Ravi Bhalla highlighted the immediate impacts on residents and called for NJ Transit to come back to the table.
"This morning, thousands of Hoboken residents woke up to a transit crisis with no reliable way to get to work or school. Our city depends on functioning rail service, and once again the state has failed to deliver," said Mayor Ravi Bhalla. "I'm calling on NJ Transit management to return to the bargaining table immediately and negotiate a fair contract that restores essential mass transit service to the thousands of working families who rely on it to get to work on a daily basis."
"Every day this strike continues means thousands more missed work days, canceled appointments, and disrupted lives across our region," said Bhalla. "We need a resolution now that respects workers and restores the rail service our residents depend on."
Both candidates are running in the Democratic primary for State Assembly in New Jersey's 32nd legislative district, which includes Hoboken and most of Jersey City.
They have been vocal advocates for improving public transportation as well as stopping the Turnpike widening project and using those funds for transit.
