Posted on 05/15/2026 11:08:27 PM PDT by Libloather
Long Island Rail Road workers went on strike early Saturday after Metropolitan Transportation Authority leaders failed to reach a deal on wage hikes with five labor unions.
More than 3,500 LIRR workers across five unions, including engineers, signalmen and trainman, walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. Saturday after a heated drawn-out battle over pay raises, with union leaders arguing higher wages are needed to keep up with inflation.
“The LIRR owns this strike,” Teamsters general president Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement Saturday.
**SNIP**
The work stoppage is expected to strand nearly 300,000 commuters, with limited shuttle buses available for essential workers and those who can’t telecommute on weekdays. MTA chief Janno Lieber and Gov. Kathy Hochul told other riders to simply work from home.
**SNIP**
The dispute between the MTA and the coalition of labor groups involves contracts that became amenable in 2023 and centers on pay and work rules for train workers.
The sides have agreed on retroactive raises of 3% in 2023, 3% in 2024 and 3.5% in 2025, but remain at odds on the unions’ request for a 5% pay raise in 2026.
Union leaders say they need higher wages to keep up with inflation.
**SNIP**
The MTA has planned rush‑hour shuttle buses for essential workers from five Long Island stations into Queens, at a projected cost of roughly $325,000 to $550,000 per day.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani warned riders to expect “heavier-than-usual traffic,” crowded transit and longer travel times as the strike continues.
“City Hall and agencies across the administration are actively coordinating preparedness and contingency efforts to maintain continuity for commuters and support New Yorkers as conditions evolve,” Mamdani said in a Friday night post on X.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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I don't think Mamdani said that. He might have said it about the subways and buses, but this is the LIRR.
The LIRR also serves areas outside of New York City, and is beyond Mamdani's jurisdiction.
Another reason to leave NYC & NY State.
Having lived and worked within LIRR covered areas, this is going to be one large mess!
From Bohemia to the Ronkonkoma station, for the hour ride to what was Grumman Aerospace Bethpage, many a morning roach coach coffee and buttered Kaiser roll and the afternoon city bus toy front door. It was the combination coming blizzard, and that buzzard that shot up a bunch of riders on another line of Long Island, that got me considering what I was doing.
I lived on Long Island during the threat of a strike in the early 2000s. The contingency plan was buses and extra subway service from Jamaica station to Manhattan on what I believe was called the “P” train, pun intended :-)
No one wins with this. The MTA will eventually cave, the work rule changes that they want (which admittedly are expensive losses for employees) will be watered down assuming they even get any of them implemented, and the taxpayers and riders will be left holding the bag in the form of ticket increases and the pleading of the MTA for more funding.
To be fair the MTA inherited nearly all of these crazy work rules when they acquired the LIRR out of bankruptcy in the 50s or 60s - as it made much better financial sense to buy the LIRR instead of building another maze of a road network to replace it. But where other transit agencies have been able to eliminate them over time, the LIRR has not. Even Metro-North doesn’t have these work rules.
The big rule changes they’re asking for:
*penalty payment changes. If you’re an engineer and you work electric and diesel service? A day’s pay as a penalty. Yard and passenger service in the same day? Penalty payment - a day’s pay.
* Operating a train that is not on your normal schedule for the day (extra service for the Mets game? They swap your assignment because another train is running late? - the engineer is effectively paid double time even though they’re within their 8 hour shift).
While the penalties are stiff, they’re counted as income for the sake of their pensions. So the MTA is effectively paying those inflated costs for years after the penalty was incurred.
They only wanted the concessions on the work rules to fund wage hikes in a 4th year of the contract, based on news reports elsewhere… and would go to arbitration on those. The Unions refused.
The public, as riders and taxpayers are continuing to pay for the MTA’s inept management. I understand the reason for these rules in the 1920s when the railroad was incentivized to hire and staff appropriately for the day’s service. But 100 years later it’s little more than a gravy train the takes advantage of weak management.
I’m not defending the MTA or the unions - just pointing out that it’s a raw deal for taxpayers.
Personally, I hope the voters on Long Island point the finger at Hochul for not managing her MTA chair (who mind you, was previously the director of Capital Programs, which included the bloated second Avenue subway extension) and vote accordingly in November.
The public be damned, some of the highest fares in the country. The RR workers are some of the highest paid in the country, while the MTA & Hochul screw everybody.
Talk about a mess.
It’s amazing that union members will go on strike, without pay, over the difference between a 3% increase or a 4% increase.
Yet, they will vote for someone that wants to raise their taxes by 5%.
EC
Good point!
World Cup starts in less than a month. Walking is always good exercise.
Blakeman rips into Hochul over LIRR strike, says she ‘failed to do her job’ — as Trump fires back after ‘reckless’ jab
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