New Jersey Transit’s locomotive engineers voted unanimously Thursday to authorize a strike after years of contract negotiations stalled, but any potential work stoppage or disruption to services is likely months away as mediation plays out.

Despite the strike authorization, the service that shuttles about 147,000 people between New Jersey and New York on average every weekday won’t face immediate disruption. The Railway Labor Act, a US federal law, prevents employees from walking off the job at this point, and an actual work stoppage would be months away. New Jersey railroad employees’ last strike took place in 1983, a stoppage that lasted more than a month.

Up Next

NJ Transit Workers Vote to Strike, But Walk-Off Risk Likely Months Away