With largest US commuter rail system shut down, federal labor officials urge unions to resume talks

NEW YORK — Federal officials called on unions representing workers on the Long Island Railroad, North America’s largest commuter rail system, to resume bargaining Sunday to prevent a long strike from disrupting the week’s commute.

The National Mediation Board, the federal labor agency that manages labor relations for railroads and airlines, has called representatives from both sides to an afternoon meeting to try to restart talks, the unions said in a statement.

Earlier Sunday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul met with the chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the railroad better known to commuters as “LIRR,” and urged unions to reach an agreement as the strike enters its second day.

“We all know that the railroad is the lifeblood of Long Island. Without the railroad, life as we know it is not possible. The bottom line is that in a strike, no one wins. Everyone suffers,” he said. Hochul offered to provide refreshments.

The LIRR serves hundreds of thousands of passengers living along a 120-mile landmass that includes New York City’s Brooklyn and Queens, as well as the Hamptons, a summertime playground for the rich and famous, near the eastern end. Rail provides relief from highways that have long been clogged during rush hour.

Most of its drivers live in two boroughs outside New York City, home to nearly three million people.

After the press conference, the International Union of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Transportation Communications Union said in a statement that union workers “are not demanding special treatment, they are simply struggling to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living after years without raises in the New York area.”

The railroad closed and workers went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Saturday after five unions representing nearly half the workforce walked out for the first time in three decades.

While unions and the MTA have been bargaining over a new contract for months, negotiations have stalled due to the issue of workers’ salaries and health premiums. President Donald Trump’s administration tried to reach an agreement, but unions were legally allowed to strike starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Hochul said at a press conference that workers would lose every dollar they would have earned with a new contract if they stayed on strike for three days.

Kevin Sexton, national vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said no new negotiations were planned.

“We are very far apart at this point,” Sexton said Saturday. “We are truly sorry we are in this situation.”

At Hochul’s press conference, MTA President Janno Lieber said the unions’ proposals would “blow up the MTA budget,” but he agreed with the governor’s request that the unions continue negotiations.

“They chose to leave. We are more than willing to cover half the salaries with them,” he said.

For the LIRR, it was the first time since a two-day strike in 1994 that the impact of the strike fell on many sports fans who wanted to see the Yankees and Mets play or the Knicks’ playoff run at Madison Square Garden, located just above the railroad’s Penn Station headquarters in Manhattan.

Passengers were greeted all weekend by train schedule departure boards listing ghost trains marked “No Passengers” rather than approaching trains listed by destination.

Hochul said essential workers among the roughly 250,000 weekday LIRR riders can take buses into the city from six locations on Long Island starting at 4 a.m. Monday and take the bus during evening rush hours from 3 to 7 p.m.

Hochul, a Democrat, accused the Trump administration of interrupting mediation and pushing negotiations toward a strike. Republican Trump responded on Saturday on the Truth Social platform, saying he had nothing to do with the attack and “didn’t even know about it until this morning.”

“No, Kathy, it’s your fault, and looking at the facts now, you shouldn’t have let this happen,” Trump said.

Hochul called on companies and organizations that employ workers from Long Island to allow them to work from home whenever possible.

“It’s impossible to completely replace LIRR service. Monday is so effective that I’m asking people who commute regularly and can work from home to do so. Please do this,” he said.

The MTA said unions’ initial demands for increased wages would result in large wage increases that would be disproportionate to wages paid to 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. ___

Associated Press writers Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.