Overview
- Union leaders representing about 3,500 Long Island Rail Road workers staged a Massapequa rally Saturday following Thursday’s bargaining session that they said went nowhere.
- Face-to-face negotiations resumed Thursday with federal mediators, as the MTA said its new proposal puts money on the table and unions dismissed it as one-time lump sums and gimmicks, with the next formal meeting scheduled for Monday.
- Both sides already agreed to 9.5% in retroactive raises for 2023 through 2025, while 2026 remains unresolved at 5% sought by unions and 3% offered by the MTA, with a 4.5% option only if workers accept work-rule changes and a previously agreed $3,000 signing bonus.
- A walkout could start at 12:01 a.m. on May 16, and the MTA’s contingency plan calls for limited rush-hour shuttle buses from Mineola, Hicksville, Huntington, Ronkonkoma, and Hempstead Lake State Park to subway connections in Queens.
- The MTA warns meeting union pay demands could mean fare hikes up to 8% or service cuts, a claim labor leaders and federal mediators dispute, as a strike would be the first since 1994 and disrupt hundreds of thousands of daily trips.