The Lengthy Island Rail Street, America’s busiest passenger rail service, floor to a halt on Saturday due to its first labor strike in additional than 30 years.
5 unions representing greater than 3,500 employees — together with engineers, signalmen and machinists — walked off the job early on Might 16, after three years of failed contract negotiations got here to a head.
The strike on the Lengthy Island Rail Street, which carries greater than 270,000 passengers a day between Lengthy Island and New York Metropolis, on common, is anticipated to trigger chaos for vacationers with few different choices. Many commuters can’t work remotely and depend on the service. And on Saturday, the New York Mets are set to face the Yankees at Citi Discipline in Queens, the place hundreds of Lengthy Island followers have been anticipated to reach by rail.
The strike comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, seeks re-election later this yr. The governor, who misplaced Lengthy Island within the final election, is being challenged by the Nassau County govt, Bruce Blakeman, a Republican with shut ties to the area.
Ms. Hochul mentioned at a information convention on Wednesday that she didn’t desire a strike, however that the unions’ wage calls for might jeopardize the M.T.A.’s funds at a time when the authority is lastly on secure floor.
“I’m not keen to ask Lengthy Islanders to pay pointless fare hikes or greater taxes,” she mentioned. “So we’ve to be prepared for no matter occurs.”
What do the unions need?
The 5 unions, representing about half of the Lengthy Island Rail Street work power, are the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen; the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen; the Worldwide Affiliation of Machinists and Aerospace Employees; the Worldwide Brotherhood of Electrical Employees; and the Transportation Communications Union.
They’re looking for a retroactive 9.5 % wage enhance masking the final three years — the identical deal the M.T.A. provided a number of different transit and civil service unions in current months. However they have been additionally looking for a 5 % elevate within the present yr, a requirement that exceeded what the M.T.A. has provided to different unions.
The M.T.A. countered with a 3 % elevate for 2026, plus a lump-sum money fee, which it mentioned would keep away from upending negotiations with greater than 80 different unions.
On Friday morning, Nick Peluso, the nationwide vice chairman of the Transportation Communications Union, mentioned in a press release that the M.T.A. had raised its supply for 2026 to a proportion enhance “within the mid-3s,” however that the unions have been looking for one thing within the 4 % vary.
Sean Butler, a spokesman for the governor, mentioned Ms. Hochul known as into the negotiations on Friday to specific her view that “no person wins in a strike.” He mentioned she conveyed that riders would undergo and hundreds of employees would lose out on pay.
Leaders of the negotiating unions have argued that their employees don’t make sufficient cash to maintain up with the price of dwelling in one of many nation’s costliest metro areas. They haven’t acquired raises since 2022.
Money compensation for members of the 5 holdout unions averaged over $136,000 in 2025, based on M.T.A. figures, making them among the many highest-paid rail employees within the nation.
The rail service has an annual working finances of $2.2 billion. Labor accounts for almost three-fourths of that finances.
If the unions comply with the present supply of a 9.5 % elevate over three years, the M.T.A. mentioned, the typical employee will obtain greater than $25,000 in again pay.
However and not using a greater percentage-rate enhance in 2026, the employees’ salaries would quickly lag behind inflation once more, mentioned James Horwitz, a spokesman for the unions.
“We need to see actual wage development,” he mentioned.
Who’s affected by the strike?
The Lengthy Island Rail Street carried nearly 82 million customers final yr. Most have been weekday commuters on their approach to jobs in New York Metropolis, however an rising variety of passengers are utilizing the service on weekends — about 137,000 on a typical Saturday, and 112,000 on Sundays.
A rising share of passengers dwell in Queens and the components of Nassau County which are closest to New York Metropolis.
Transit officers anticipate extra visitors on main highways, together with the Lengthy Island Expressway and the Northern State Parkway.
What are the journey options through the strike?
The M.T.A. will provide free weekday bus service starting Monday morning from six places on Lengthy Island to 2 subway stations in Queens, and in the other way through the night rush.
Buses will decide up riders within the morning on the Bay Shore, Hicksville and Mineola L.I.R.R. stations, in addition to Hempstead Lake State Park close to the Lakeview station, and produce them to the A prepare cease at Howard Seashore-JFK Airport. There will even be pick-ups on the Huntington and Ronkonkoma stations, and people buses will take riders to the F prepare cease at Jamaica-179 Road.
The buses to Queens are anticipated to run each 10 minutes from 4:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., and afternoon shuttles again to Lengthy Island will run from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. There can be a restricted variety of buses working within the non-peak route at among the stations.
Janno Lieber, the M.T.A.’s chairman and chief govt, mentioned the buses wouldn’t be capable of accommodate all of the riders who depend on the railroad, and inspired folks to work at home if they’ll.
Jai Patel, the M.T.A.’s chief monetary officer, mentioned that between 165 and 275 buses can be used, at a value of $325,000 to $550,000 per day. Even when the strike is averted, the M.T.A. would nonetheless need to pay to order the buses.
The plan leaves many gaps throughout the railroad’s 126 stations. The M.T.A. anticipates that many individuals will drive or be dropped off at subway stations in Queens and Brooklyn, however mentioned extra parking wouldn’t be offered.
Riders in Nassau County can take the Nassau County bus service, referred to as NICE, to the No. 7 prepare in Flushing, one of the busiest subway stations within the metropolis, or to the Jamaica Bus Terminal to catch an F prepare.
The M.T.A. mentioned that within the occasion of a strike, it could problem refunds to riders with month-to-month rail passes for enterprise days with out prepare service.
What led to this dispute?
Not like a lot of the M.T.A. work power, which is prevented from placing as a result of it’s ruled by totally different guidelines, Lengthy Island Rail Street employees are lined by a 1926 federal regulation known as the Railway Labor Act.
The regulation was designed to stop main service disruptions by requiring mediation and an prolonged evaluate interval earlier than a strike is allowed.
However in an uncommon transfer, the federal company that oversees such disputes, the Nationwide Mediation Board, final yr released the unions from mediation, a call that cleared the trail for a potential walkout.
Ms. Hochul on Wednesday mentioned that call had “needlessly accelerated” the motion towards a strike, and blamed the Trump administration for rising the chances.
A strike was postponed twice inside the previous yr, after the unions requested the intervention of two federally appointed evaluate boards. The three-person panels, which have been appointed by President Trump, mentioned the unions must be paid greater than what the M.T.A. was providing. However their recommendations are usually not binding, and a 3rd panel can’t be requested.
Gary Dellaverson, a former M.T.A. govt and labor negotiator who’s advising the authority within the negotiations, mentioned it was keen to match the suggestions made by the federal mediation panels, with a four-year settlement price greater than $133 million in wage features that features a lump-sum fee — the equal of a 4.5 % elevate in 2026.
“This isn’t a gimmick; this isn’t unusual,” Mr. Dellaverson mentioned of the most recent supply.
The unions have mentioned they oppose a lump-sum settlement that might not guarantee long-term wage features.
The federal authorities might nonetheless act to stop a strike. However Congress didn’t intervene in an identical dispute final yr, when NJ Transit engineers walked off the job.
M.T.A. officers had mentioned they’d contemplate the unions’ wage supply if the unions have been keen to surrender quite a few work guidelines that always require greater pay for sure duties. The unions declined to take action.
For example, if an engineer drives a diesel prepare initially of a shift however is requested to change to an electrical prepare in the identical day, the M.T.A. should compensate that employee with two days’ pay. If, on the identical day, the engineer is requested to change from driving passengers to driving a prepare again to a yard for upkeep or storage, that employee is entitled to a 3rd day of pay.
These penalty funds added virtually 15 % to the typical engineer’s compensation in 2024, the M.T.A. mentioned.
When was the final L.I.R.R. strike?
There has not been a strike on the railroad since 1994when a two-day suspension despatched riders scrambling for options.
Information reports on the time mentioned the primary day of suspended service didn’t trigger as many issues as some had feared. However the system had solely about 110,000 each day riders on the time, lower than half of the everyday ridership right now.
Then, as now, the 2 sides argued over pay and work guidelines. The M.T.A., underneath Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, finally acceded to most of the unions’ calls for, ending the strike.
