BLET National President Mark Wallace and First Vice President Gary Best met with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) as part of their series of high-level meetings on Capitol Hill. Wallace and Best went to Capitol Hill in late July to advocate on behalf of BLET members and make legislators aware of the top legislative and political priorities of the BLET and Teamsters Rail Conference.
Wallace personally thanked Senator Booker for his support of BLET and its members during the union’s strike at New Jersey Transit in 2025. “One of my first actions as BLET National President was calling a strike on New Jersey Transit during May 2025. Senator Booker stood with our NJ Transit members during the strike. He played a key role in getting NJ Transit management to give our members the fair contract they deserved. We will always have the back of elected officials like Senator Booker — he had our back when we needed him,” President Wallace said.
Senator Booker spoke at the IBT’s International Convention back in June and has been a key supporter of BLET and Teamsters priorities. Among other areas of support, he is the lead Senate Democrat on the Faster Labor Contracts Act.
“Anyone who got a chance to hear Senator Booker speak at the Teamsters Convention this year knows that he is a champion for the working class and will fight for workers, including BLET members,” said Wallace.
Also during the July meeting, President Wallace and First Vice President Best thanked Senator Booker for leading a recent letter to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) with 22 other Senate Democrats that urges the STB to closely examine the effect of the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger on rail workers.
They also discussed the safety and deskilling issues associated with software systems like Trip Optimizer and Zero-to-Zero and the dangers of UP’s waiver request to operate their Integrated Train Operations (ITO) system on main line railroads tracks through communities in states like New Jersey. Senator Booker highlighted his ongoing legislative work to address how AI is negatively affecting workers across different sectors, including transportation, and committed to working with the BLET to address this issue as part of his work.