By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on February 03, 2016 at 7:41 AM, updated February 04, 2016 at 12:25 PM
NJ Transit insiders say there is a 75 to 85 percent likelihood that a coalition of 17 rail unions, which have been working without a contract for five years, will call a “soft strike” over the weekend of March 12.
The strike could likely last through the Monday morning commute on March 14, when workers say they expect to be ordered back to work by the Obama administration. The last strike in March 1983 lasted for 34 days.
“They’ll soften the blow … Let the media know, let commuters know, let everyone get home on Friday night,” one NJ Transit insider said.
NJ Transit and the rail unions met Wednesday as a March strike deadline approaches. NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said those negotiation were substantive. She declined to answer a question about when the next negation session would be held.
