Posted on 12/25/2013 7:42:57 AM PST by Olog-hai
The board of mediators appointed by President Barack Obama to help resolve a 3½-year contract dispute between the Long Island Rail Road and most of its unions rejected the LIRR’s claim that it can’t afford to give workers raises. […]
The presidential board recommended annual raises for workers averaging 2.83 percent over six years, and increased health care contributions for all workers. It did not call for any changes in LIRR pension plans or to any work rules. […]
The MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) would agree to raises, but only if they were funded by other concessions. That includes the abolition of several work rules, including one that gives LIRR engineers an extra day’s pay for operating a diesel and an electric train in the same shift. …
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
I was once riding home after New Year’s Eve in Times Square. As the train approached Jamaica, it slowed to about 10 mph - and ran through. After Union Hall Street, the engineer, obviously drunk, came on the PA and gave a rambling dissertation which ended by saying the train was going to Cuba.
Somewhere past Hollis, we slowed to a stop and stayed there until management arrived, backed the train up to Jamaica, and announced all the new connections.
Gotta love the LIRR!
What’s the daily round trip ticket now Ronkonkoma to Penn Station... over $26.00. Affordable as ObamaScare.
$25.50 off-peak and $35 during peak times (the latter counting two one-way peak fares). If you buy on board, you get hit with the surcharge, which is over $6.
Ah yes, the good ol’ Long Island RailRoad!
All the way from Manhattan, to what used to be the end of the line at Ronkonkoma. When I left in 1994, the monthly pass was $110.00.
I remember the little pick-up truck ‘roadside cafe’s’, complete with hot buttered Kaiser rolls, warm breakfast sandwiches, and of course, fresh bagels, and Greek restaurant blend coffee.
I remember having to leave the house at 0530, to go the 2 miles to the parking lot. (Never drive your good looking car there - always have a ‘station car’, with maybe an am radio.)
I remember, standing on the platform in Bethpage, in the winter of ‘93, when the loudspeaker said that all the trains will be delayed. (This was the day before cellphones, and the pay booth was always a wreck.) That was the day of Colin Ferguson.
Monthly ticket between Penn and Ronkonkoma these days is $363.00. According to the BLS Inflation Calculator, $110.00 in 1994 dollars is equivalent to $172.99 in 2013 dollars, so the MTA and the unions (never mind the NY state government and the federal government) are certainly playing some tricky games there.
Don’t ask me why, but the MTA just can’t run a commuter train powered by third rail in winter weather. When the LIRR was a private company, though, they ran the electric trains in the snow all the time.
The LIRR was not under the good auspices of the NYC MTA. They were a seperate entity. The reason I know this, is that one of the conductors was an elder at the small Messianic church I frequented, in Sayville.
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