New York commuter rail system shuts down as workers strike | New York
North America’s largest commuter rail system was shut down Saturday after union workers in the New York City area went on strike.
The Long Island Rail Road, which serves the city’s eastern suburbs, ceased operations early Saturday morning after five unions representing about half its workforce walked out.
The two sides had been negotiating a new contract for months, and the Trump administration had even intervened to broker a deal. However, unions were legally allowed to strike as of 12.01am on Saturday.
Kevin Sexton, national vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said no new negotiations are planned.
“We are very far apart at this point,” Sexton said earlier Saturday. “We are truly sorry we are in this situation.”
MTA president Janno Lieber said the agency “gave the union everything they wanted in terms of pay” and that, in his opinion, it was clear that the unions always intended to leave the union.
The strike, the first for the LIRR since a two-day strike in 1994, promises to create headaches for some sports fans who plan to watch crosstown baseball rivals the New York Yankees and Mets play this weekend or catch the NBA’s New York Knicks playoff game at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. Both sports venues have dedicated LIRR stops.
If the closure continues beyond the weekend, approximately 250,000 weekday commuters will have to find alternative routes from the Long Island suburbs to New York City.
For most people, this probably means navigating the area’s notoriously congested roads.
“People are still going to commute, but if everyone starts driving now, traffic is going to get worse,” said Rich Piccola, an accountant who commutes into the city at Penn Station on Thursday as he waited for his train home.
New York governor Kathy Hochul is urging Long Islanders to work from home if possible. The MTA said it would provide limited shuttle bus service to New York City subway stations, but that contingency plan was not designed to handle all the passengers the system normally carries in a business day.
Lisa Daglian, executive director of the MTA Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, a commuter advocacy group, said that although remote work options have greatly expanded during the Covid pandemic, many workers still must show up in person.
“Whether you’re working in construction, you’re working in healthcare, you’re working in school or you’re about to graduate from school, that’s not always possible,” he said about working remotely. “People need to go where they need to go.”
The latest contract negotiations focused on the issue of workers’ salaries and health premiums.
The MTA said the unions’ initial demands would lead to wage increases and affect contract negotiations with other unionized workers.
Unions representing locomotive engineers, drivers, signalmen and other train workers have said more significant raises are needed to help workers keep pace with inflation and rising costs of living.
While some cyclists are sympathetic to the union’s affordability concerns, they worry they will bear the brunt of any pay rises.
Gerard Bringmann, president of the LIRR Commuter Council, a driver advocacy group, said in a statement that if unions get the fare increases they seek, “it will come at the expense of our passengers, who will see next year’s 4% fare increase double to 8%.” “Like union workers, we are bearing the brunt of the rising cost of living on Long Island.”
William Dwyer, a labor relations expert at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where commuter rail workers staged a three-day strike last year, said there could be pressure on the MTA to strike a deal to end the shutdown, as Democrat Hochul faces re-election later this year.
“He’s up for re-election and Long Island is a critical vote for him,” he said. “So if there’s a significant wage increase, that doesn’t bode well for him on election day.”
