LIRR riders can relaxation simple — for now — as the specter of a late-week strike by 5 unions representing half the railroad’s employees has been averted.
Fears of a strike on the nation’s busiest commuter railroad have grown as a federally mandated “cooling off period” was set to run out Thursday.
However management of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen, the Worldwide Affiliation of Machinists, the Worldwide Brotherhood of Electrical Employees, and the Transportation Communications Union introduced Monday that they’ve requested President Trump to place collectively a Presidential Emergency Board to proceed negotiations by way of January.
Ought to these negotiations fail, management stated, the 5 unions have voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike for subsequent yr.
“Today’s vote reflects the frustration of our members — but also reflects their unity, their determination, and their belief in fairness,” Gilman Lang, Common Chairman with the BLET, instructed reporters.
Two years of negotiations between the 5 unions and the MTA have centered largely on wages, with the transit company proposing a 9.5% increase over a 3 yr contract, and the labor coalition calling for a 16% increase over 4 years.
Any of the events to the negotiation have been entitled to name on the White Home to kind a so-called “Presidential Emergency Board” of three mediators — a step which might prolong negotiations and legally forbid any strike or lockout into January.
Labor Legislation additionally permits for commuter railroads to name for a second such board ought to the primary one fail to dealer an settlement, an association which might push the specter of a strike again into Could.
“The five unions decided to be the grownup in the room,” Jim Louis, a nationwide VP for the BLET, stated Monday of the choice to enchantment to Trump.
In an announcement, MTA’s chief of coverage and exterior relations, John McCarthy, questioned whether or not the unions had been negotiating in good religion.
“After months of radio silence, these outlier unions have finally admitted that they weren’t serious about negotiating. They never had a plan to resolve this at the bargaining table,” he stated.
“If these unions wanted to put riders first, they would either settle or agree to binding arbitration. And if they don’t want to strike, they should say so – and finally show up to the negotiating table. This cynical delay serves no one.”
Initially Revealed: September 15, 2025 at 1:54 PM EDT
