By Hank Russell
During a part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) April 29 board meeting, a labor union official, speaking on behalf of a coalition of five LIRR rail unions, called out the MTA for its “lack of urgency” with a strike date of May 16 set and no negotiations for the past 40 days. After the meeting, the MTA agreed to hold new talks during the week of May 4 to include the federal National Mediation Board, according to the coalition.
The coalition of five unions represents a majority of LIRR’s unionized workforce, 3,500 railroad workers. The BLET is bargaining in a coalition alongside the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS), the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and the Transportation Communications Union (TCU). Combined, the coalition represents more than half (55.08%) of the unionized workforce at LIRR.
As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, BLET called on two Presidential Emergency Boards (PEB) to resolve the contract dispute between the LIRR and the unions. Rather than go on strike, the unions called on the Trump administration to bring in a National Mediation Board. BLET members, along with the members of four other rail unions, have been without a pay raise for over three years. The LIRR offered a 9% pay raise over three years, but BLET wanted an additional 6.5%. According to the LIRR, a possible strike would have affected 270,000 daily riders. The board sided with the unions.
The second board, PEB 254, like an earlier appointed board, recommended raises and retroactive pay for the union members, LILP also previously reported. The board also rejected the employer’s request for sweeping changes to contract language, stating, “…the Carrier’s insistence on all of its work rule changes, in our view, makes its Final Offer the less reasonable of the two, regardless of the respective GWIs [general wage increases.” The coalition requested a second PEB, citing the Railway Labor Act.
Gil Lang, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), told MTA Chairman/CEO Janno Lieber and the MTA board members “the clock is ticking” and, still, nothing has been settled yet.
“The MTA’s responsibility should be to serve the public and to keep the Long Island Rail Road moving,” Lang said. “Instead, since the last meeting that we requested, 40 days have passed. No response. No new bargaining session. No counterproposal. No sense of urgency.”
Lang blamed the delay on the MTA. “Rather than working toward a settlement, the MTA is preparing the public for failure — talking about limited bus service and ignoring the gridlock that will paralyze Long Island if the trains stop running,” Lang said. “That is not a plan. That is not leadership.”
When asked during a press conference if the MTA will meet with the coalition, Lieber replied, “We do want to meet with them. I thought it was great that they showed up.”
He also “called BS” on those who claimed that the agency did not want another meeting. “We had our team here and we were ready to go and I’m glad that these discussions are happening.”