REGIONAL — A threatened strike by Long Island Rail Road employees would affect nearly 300,000 riders, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said at a press conference Thursday afternoon, where the agency outlined its contingency plans.
Rob Fried, president of LIRR, said the strike could take place as early as Thursday, Sept. 18. While LIRR engineers listed inflation and cost of living as the reason for their wage demands, a strike “is not fair to LIRR riders and the region as a whole,” Fried maintained, adding that the agency hopes “to get the engineers back to the table.”
The nearly 600 locomotive engineers employed by LIRR have been without a pay raise for more than three years, the last on April 16, 2022, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said on their website.
Gil Lang, general chair for the Brotherhood, said management has only made contract offers that would result in “a loss of real wages” for BLET members. “We are only asking for a fair contract — one that provides modest wage gains, or at the very least, maintains real wages,” Lang said.
BLET is bargaining in a coalition alongside the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Transportation Communications Union. Combined, the coalition represents more than half (55.08%) of the unionized workforce at LIRR.
The contract dispute has been in National Mediation Board-sponsored mediation since February 2024. Member ballots are due in on Monday.
Fried advised riders to just work from home if possible, if trains stop running. If people must commute, build in plenty of extra time, as roads are likely to be packed.
As an alternative, MTA will provide limited shuttle bus service on weekdays for essential workers and for those who can’t telecommute. Buses will run every 10 minutes during peak hours (toward Manhattan from 4:30-9 a.m. and to Long Island from 3-7 p.m.) from three LIRR stations to subway transfer points in Queens: Bellmore, Hicksville and Ronkonkoma.
Riders in Nassau County should consider using Nassau Inter-County Express buses to connect with the New York City subway system at Flushing-Main St (7), or travel to the Jamaica Bus Terminal in Queens, which is a four-minute walk from the 169th Street (F) subway station.
MTA “Customer Ambassadors” will be deployed at key LIRR stations and subway transfer points to direct riders to alternate travel paths, MTA said in a release.
The agency is floating the idea of issuing prorated refunds to September monthly ticket holders for any business day that service is suspended due to the strike, but the board must first approve that.
MTA will post updated information to its website here.
