Hochul Calls Strike ‘Reckless’
By Hank Russell
Negotiations between the five Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) unions and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority broke down this morning, with the unions announcing that its 3.500 members will go on strike, starting at 12:01 a.m. This is the first LIRR strike since 1994.
Picket lines began at 7 a.m. at the East End Gateway entrance at Penn Station and the LIRR station in Ronkonkoma.
As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, talks between the two sides seemed to hit an impasse as the unions pushed for a higher raise. According to Channel 2 News, both sides agreed to a 9.5% raise over three years, but the MTA’s chief negotiator, Gary Dellaverson, offered a 4.5% lump-sum payment, which did not sit well with union leadership who called the MTA’s offer “a gimmick.”
It was also reported that the unions sought two Presidential Emergency Boards, which recommended raises between 4.5% and 5%.
The workers have worked without a contract for the past three years, according to the unions.
“MTA and Governor [Kathy] Hochul determined that they would rather create frustration and gridlock for thousands of commuters, spend millions on buses during a strike and lose millions in revenue rather than settle a contract meant to keep pace with the rising cost of living,” said Nick Peluso who serves as the national vice president of the Transportation Communications Union.
Gil Lang, General Chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) said this is “an open-ended strike,” meaning, “We don’t know when it will end. It shouldn’t have begun. Management through their provocations and game-playing own this one.”
The coalition of five rail unions includes BLET, 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).
The MTA announced on its website that the strike has gone into effect and urged Long Island commuters to use the shuttle buses provided by the agency or work from home.
“A strike will have a devastating impact on the nearly 300,000 passengers who depend on the LIRR to get where they need to go every single day,” the website stated. “MTA leaders will continue to negotiate with the unions to resolve the strike. However, we want riders to be prepared.”
MTA Chairman/CEO Janno Lieber expressed disappointment. “Obviously, this wasn’t the result we were looking for,” he said, according to Eyewitness News. “[But] we cannot make a deal that implodes the MTA’s budget.”
Lieber said he and Hochul “have worked too hard to get back on stable financial footing. We refuse to agree to a deal that puts it on riders and taxpayers to fund outside wage increases that are far beyond what anyone else in the MTA is getting.” He also said these LIRR workers on strike “are already the highest-paid workers in the country” and “get to feast on overtime [pay] … because of the crazy work rules.”
Lieber said the MTA agreed to pay for the last three years, but the fourth year “is still in dispute.” LILP also reported that the MTA offered a 4.5% lump-sum payment, which the unions rejected.
He said they wanted to bring the fourth year into binding arbitration, “and even they [unions] rejected that. For me, it was always apparent that they wanted to strike. Their strategy was to inconvenience Long Islanders, and to try to force the MTA and the state to do a bad deal. That is unacceptable to the governor, to the MTA board and to me.”
Hochul said this strike would raise fares by 8%, pit workers against each other and raise taxes on Long Island commuters. “This is unacceptable,” she said. “My priority is protecting affordability for riders and ensuring fairness across the workforce.”
The governor said the strike was “the direct result of reckless actions by the Trump Administration to cut mediation short and push these negotiations toward a strike. For weeks, the MTA has attempted to negotiate in good faith and put multiple fair offers on the table that included meaningful wage increases, but you cannot make a deal if one side refuses to engage in good faith.”
Aside from the riders being unable to get to work, LIRR workers will not be paid “because of decisions made by a small group of union leaders,” Hochul said. “I stand with LIRR riders and will fight to preserve the long-term stability of the MTA. I believe a deal can be done and I urge both the MTA and these unions to return to the table and bargain non-stop until a deal is reached.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is running against Hochul for governor, laid the blame on Hochul’s shoulders.
“Hundreds of thousands of Long Islanders woke up to chaos because Kathy Hochul failed to do her job,” he said. “This strike didn’t come out of nowhere — Hochul knew this deadline was coming and still allowed commuters, small businesses, nurses, teachers, and tourists to become collateral damage. Hochul can’t pass a budget on time, can’t keep the trains running, and cares more about bailing out Zohran Mamdani than the commuters stranded on platforms. Hands down, Hochul is the worst governor in America.”