LIRR strike looms as contract talks go down to the wire
Nearly 300,000 daily commuters could be left without service if no agreement is reached.
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There are just hours remaining before a possible Long Island Rail Road strike - the first in more than 30 years.
Negotiators for the MTA and five LIRR unions spent Friday locked in tense, extended talks at MTA headquarters in Manhattan.
Nearly 300,000 daily commuters could be left without service if no agreement is reached.
After a 12‑hour bargaining session Thursday that stretched late into the night, both sides returned to the table around 11 a.m. Friday. While union and MTA representatives have shifted from their earlier positions, they remain divided over wage increases for the fourth and final year of the proposed contract.
According to a union spokesperson, the MTA is offering a raise of about 3.5% for year four. The unions are pushing for just under 5%. The coalition represents engineers, signal workers, electricians, machinists and ticket agents. Notably, conductors are not part of this bargaining group.
Union officials say the MTA abruptly walked out of negotiations around 10 p.m. Thursday. The MTA has previously argued that granting a 5% raise could force an 8% fare hike next year—double the 4% increase already planned.
LIRR President Rob Free said Friday that the agency is trying to strike a responsible balance.
“We want to compensate our employees. They do a great job. We want to fairly compensate them but we have budgetary obligations. We cannot put an added burden on our budget which will be passed along to our riders and the taxpayers.”
Union leaders also criticized the MTA for meeting Friday with TWU Local 100, the subway workers’ union, whose contract expires tomorrow. That union is significantly larger than the roughly 3,500 LIRR workers involved in the current dispute.
Because of pattern bargaining—a practice in which raises negotiated by one union influence expectations for others—any agreement reached with LIRR workers could set a precedent for upcoming MTA labor deals.
