By BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI

Some 350,000 commuters who work in New Jersey and New York City could soon be scrambling for other ways to reach their destinations if New Jersey Transit engineers walk off the job early Friday.

NJ Transit — the nation’s third largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. A walkout would halt all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York City’s Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.

Wages and working conditions have been the main sticking points of the negotiations between the agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. The union claims its members earn an average salary of $113,000 a year and says an agreement could be reached if agency CEO Kris Kolluri agrees to an average yearly salary of $170,000.

NJ Transit leadership, though, disputes the union’s data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000.

“I cannot keep giving money left and right to solve a problem,” Kolluri recently said. “It all comes down to, who is going to pay for this? Money does not grow on trees.”

Tom Haas, the union’s general chairman, has said NJ Transit has adopted a “take it or leave it” approach to salaries during the negotiations.

“We have sought nothing more than equal pay for equal work, only to be continuously rebuffed by New Jersey Transit,” Haas said during a news conference Friday. ”New Jersey Transit engineers want to keep the trains moving, but the simple fact is that trains do not run without engineers.”

If the walkout does happen, it would be the state’s first transit strike in more than 40 years.

Strike contingency plans

If the engineers do walk off the job, the agency plans to increase bus service, saying it would add “very limited” capacity to existing New York commuter bus routes in close proximity to rail stations and will contract with private carriers to operate bus service from key regional park-and-ride locations during weekday peak periods.

However, the agency notes that the buses would not be able to handle close to the same number of passengers — only about 20% of current rail customers — so it is has urged people who can work from home to do so if there is a strike.

The potential strike is already causing some disruptions. On Monday, NJ Transit said it will not operate train or bus service to MetLife Stadium for Shakira concerts scheduled for Thursday and Friday, and said it’s not clear yet if it will be providing service for Beyonce fans planning to attend her shows scheduled at MetLife from May 22 to 29.

Commuter options if there is a strike

If a walkout does occur, NJ Transit has said the chartered buses will run from four satellite lots across the state to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan or to PATH train stations in north Jersey, starting Monday. The PATH system is operated by a subsidiary of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and its services would not be affected by the potential strike.

As many as 1,000 passengers are on a full train each day, and roughly 70,000 commuters take the trains each day. NJ Transit says each chartered bus could carry only about 100 passengers, and no buses would run on the first day of a potential strike.

Officials expect some train customers will switch to existing NJ Transit bus routes or use the chartered carriers. Others may choose to drive into New York City, where they would have to pay congestion pricing fees.

Negotiations ongoing

The potential walkout comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management. Both sides had earlier said the tentative agreement included a “reasonable wage increase” for union members as well as the resolution of a long-standing grievance.

Kolluri has said the offer would have raised the average annual pay of full-time engineers to $172,000 from $135,000, but union leaders say those figures were inflated.

Since that proposal was rejected, the two sides have traded jabs over the labor dispute, which goes back to 2019, when the engineers’ contract expired. Union leaders say train engineers have gone without a raise over the past five years and are just seeking pay parity with engineers who work for other rail agencies.

The parties met Monday with a federal mediation board in Washington to discuss the dispute, but both sides and the board have declined to comment on whether any progress was made or if more talks have been scheduled.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, says all options are on the table if a strike occurs, including declaring a state of emergency. The governor, though, remains optimistic an agreement can be reached.

Minnesota United wingback Joseph Rosales will serve a three-match suspension over an alleged slur toward a Vancouver player in April, MLS said Wednesday.

MLS said it was a violation of the league’s Joint Non-Discrimination Policy and Rosales’ reinstatement following the suspension is contingent upon his participation in a restorative practices program.

Rosales will miss two MLS matches: at Houston on Wednesday and St. Louis City on Saturday as well as the U.S. Open Cup match against St. Louis on May 21.

Rosales had a contentious exchange with Whitecaps attacker Emmanuel Sabbi late in the Loons’ 3-1 loss at Allianz Field on April 27. Rosales has since denied he said a racial comment, including directly to Loons Chief Soccer Officer Khaled El-Ahmad.

Loons head coach Eric Ramsay backed Rosales after Tuesday’s training session.

“These situations, in general, are really tricky because I don’t think anyone is ever going to be able to say in concrete either way as to what happened,” Ramsay said. “Of course, Joe is in our camp here and … I’ve known him for a year, everyone else has known him for that amount of time and longer. Everyone trusts him, likes him, has zero question marks against him. I can only put myself in that bracket and do my best to really support Joe around what is a tricky set of circumstances.”

Since the incident, Ramsay has taken Rosales out of the starting lineup in the last two matches, while subbing him into both second halves.

“The fact that I’ve been able to take him out of the team and give him a little bit of space has been with that in mind, to make sure he doesn’t feel any unnecessary pressure,” Ramsay said.

Anthony Markanich started the last two matches at left wing back, scoring a goal apiece against Austin FC and Inter Miami. But he injured his ankle in the 4-1 win over Inter Miami on Saturday and subbed out at halftime. He will miss the Houston match, but Ramsay said Markanich will be in a candidate to play Saturday.

Kieren Chandler is in line for his MLS debut against Houston on Wednesday night. The club signed the 19-year-old to a short-term loan from MNUFC2 on Wednesday.

The Loons drafted Chandler 43rd overall in the 2025 draft, and the University of Connecticut product played 90 minutes in the 1-0 win over Louisville City in the U.S. Open Cup round of 31 on May 7. He leads the Loons second team with three assists in  387 minutes over five matches this spring.

“He is a really interesting player,” Ramsay said. “I would say has a lot of really similar qualities to the left back at Vancouver (19-year-old Tate Johnson) who has hit the ground running from the college system.

“Someone I would have a lot of faith in putting into an MLS game,” Ramsay continued. “I know players really value what he brings, a level of tenacity and competitiveness but also a real calmness on the ball and a real quality on the ball.”

By JOSH FUNK

A hotline between military and civilian air traffic controllers in Washington, D.C., that hasn’t worked for more than three years may have contributed to another near miss shortly after the Army resumed flying helicopters in the area for the first time since January’s deadly midair collision between a passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter. Sen. Ted Cruz said a hearing Wednesday.

Related Articles

Trump marvels at wealth of his Arab hosts while he eyes White House and Air Force One upgrades

Democrats are deeply pessimistic about the future of their party, an AP-NORC poll finds

A pregnant Cuban emigre worries about her baby’s citizenship as Supreme Court weighs a Trump order

Democratic congressman pushes articles of impeachment against Trump, but colleagues criticize it

Funds from migrants sent back home help fuel some towns’ economies. A GOP plan targets that

The Federal Aviation Administration official in charge of air traffic controllers, Frank McIntosh, confirmed that the agency didn’t even know the hotline hadn’t been working since March 2022 until after the latest near miss. He said civilian controllers did still have other means of communicating with their military counterparts through landlines, but the FAA is insisting the hotline be fixed before helicopter flights resume around Ronald Reagan National Airport.

Defense department officials didn’t immediately respond to questions Wednesday about the near miss earlier this month and the steps it is taking to ensure helicopter flights in the area are safe. The FAA didn’t immediately answer follow-up questions after the hearing about how that hotline was supposed to be used.

“The developments at DCA (Reagan airport) in its airspace are extremely concerning,” Cruz said. “This committee remains laser focused on monitoring a safe return to operations at DCA and making sure all users in the airspace are operating responsibly.”

The Army suspended all helicopter flights around Reagan airport after the latest near miss, but McIntosh said the FAA was close to ordering the Army to stop flying because of the safety concerns before it did so voluntarily.

“We did have discussions if that was an option that we wanted to pursue,” McIntosh told the Senate Commerce Committee at the hearing.

January’s crash between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter killed 67 people — making it the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil since 2001. The National Transportation Safety Board has said there were an alarming 85 near misses around Reagan in the three years before the crash that should have prompted action.

Since the crash, the FAA has tried to ensure that military helicopters never share the same airspace as planes, but controllers had to order two planes to abort their landings on May 1 because of an Army helicopter circling near the Pentagon.

In addition to that incident, a commercial flight taking off from Reagan airport had to take evasive action after coming within a few hundred feet of four military jets heading to a flyover at Arlington National Cemetery. McIntosh blamed that incident on a miscommunication between FAA air traffic controllers at a regional facility and the tower at Reagan that he said had been addressed.

NEW YORK (AP) — Ford is recalling nearly 274,000 of its Expedition and Lincoln-branded Navigator SUVs across the U.S. due to an issue that may cause a loss of brake function while driving, increasing crash risks.

According to documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the front brake lines in these now-recalled cars “may be in contact” with their engine air cleaner outlet pipe due to a potential installation defect. That can result in a brake fluid leak and/or a loss of brake function.

The recall covers 223,315 Expeditions and 50,474 Navigators between model years 2022 and 2024. Ford expects that just 1% of these vehicles have the defect, per a recall report dated Friday.

Ford is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to this recall — but the Michigan-based auto giant had received 45 warranty reports of front brake line leaks as of April 17, NHSTA documents note.

As a remedy, Ford and Lincoln dealers will inspect the front brake line of impacted vehicles and replace it or the air cleaner outlet pipe if necessary, free of charge. Dealer notifications were planned to begin Wednesday, the recall report notes, with owner letters set to be mailed out between May 26 and May 30.

In the meantime, drivers can also confirm if their specific vehicle is included in this recall and find more information using the NHTSA site or Ford’s recall lookup. The company’s number for this recall is 25S47.

Impacted drivers may experience an increase in pedal travel, NHSTA documents warn, meaning the pedal would need to be pressed harder to apply the brakes. And if there’s a leaking brake line, the fluid level will decrease over time — potentially causing the red brake warning indicator to light up.

A spokesperson for Ford had no additional comments when reached by The Associated Press on Wednesday.