Hudson Valley commuters saw little if any impact to their commutes on Monday, the first weekday of the three-day Long Island Rail Road strike that began at 12:01 a.m. on May 16. Service on Metro-North was not interrupted by the walkout staged by about 3,500 workers across five labor unions.
The LIRR, part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s service network, serves about 300,000 riders each weekday. Because many of them took to their cars to get to and from work when the strike shut down rail service there was increased congestion along routes from Long Island into New York City and on roads in the city itself. Hudson Valley commuters who drive were likely to have hit some of that congestion depending on the routes they travel.
They also were likely to have encountered heavier than usual crowding on subways and buses in New York City with lines in Queens and Manhattan seeing extra volume as LIRR riders tried to find alternate ways to travel.
The MTA and the five striking unions resumed negotiations early on the morning of May 18 but then stopped for several hours. In the negotiations, the MTA had offered retroactive raises of 3% for the first two years and 3.5% for the third year of a new contract. For the final year, the MTA proposed lump-sum payments rather than permanent adjustments to the pay scale while the unions were demanding a 5% permanent wage increase.
Two of the striking unions, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Transportation Communications Union had released a joint statement in which they blamed the strike on MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber, who was reported to have made a demand that the contribution made by union workers toward their health care coverage be increased to help offset pay hikes.
“The dedicated Long Island Rail Road workers represented by our unions are not asking for special treatment — they are simply fighting to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living in the New York region after years without a raise,” the unions said. “There seems to be a disconnect between Mr. Lieber and the reality faced by workers who have gone four years without a raise.”
The unions accused Lieber of “turning his back” on two proposals from federal officials that the unions said could have avoided a strike.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, in a briefing on the strike said, “I did not want a strike. The MTA did not want a strike. We all know that the railroad is the lifeblood of Long Island. Without it, life as we know it is simply not possible. The bottom line is: No one wins in a strike. Everyone is hurt — the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on the railroad, and the thousands of unionized workers who are losing out on wages.”
Hochul urged both sides to “bargain at the table, and to get a deal done” and regular LIRR commuters to work from home if possible.
“Employers should make every accommodation necessary to allow for remote work,” Hochul said. “We believe in working men and women receiving a fair wage and benefits. But the MTA cannot agree to a contract that would raise fares as much as 8% and risk hiking taxes for Long Islanders. Long Islanders deserve a break, as do all the residents who commute on our lines from Queens and elsewhere. They face tariff prices, price hikes on everything from food to school supplies, and skyrocketing gas prices after Trump’s war in Iran. I will not let this dispute lead to higher prices and less money in the pockets of our residents.”
