President Obama has appointed Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) 249 to make non-binding recommendations to settle the outstanding contract dispute between New Jersey Transit (NJT) and the coalition of all the unions, including TCU Carmen, Clerks and Supervisors.
The three member Board will be chaired by arbitrator Joshua Javits, who also served as Chairman of the second Long Island Rail Road PEB last year.
The PEB will hold hearings starting December 14 in Newark. Each side will submit their complete proposal for a contract, and the Board will choose what it considers the most reasonable offer as its recommendation. The Board decision is due no later than January 11, 2016.
The first PEB recommended wage increases totaling 18.4% over a 6-1/2 year term. NJT rejected the recommendations as too costly, and continues to demand employee health insurance contributions well above the Board’s recommendation of 2.5% of 40 hours pay. As a result, negotiations remain at impasse.
“We are confident that PEB 249 will find the unions’ proposals reasonable, and hopeful that NJT will ultimately agree to a fair contract,” said TCU President Bob Scardelletti.
Click here for more information on PEB 249.