RONKONKOMA – The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), North America’s busiest commuter railroad – about 300,000 daily riders – is facing possible service disruptions if an agreement is not reached by Saturday.
Five unions representing more than 3,500 workers are ready to walk off the job on Saturday, May 16, at 12:01p.m. if they don’t see bigger raises than what they’re currently being offered. The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) says that those raises would lead to “higher fares, higher State taxes, or service cuts.”
The unions involved consist of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Transportation Communications Union. They are seeking a 9.5% retroactive wage increase covering the last three years. The MTA offered the same deal to other transit and civil service unions recently.
However, the groups are also lobbying for a 5% increase in the current year, which exceeds other offers of the MTA. They counteroffered with a 3% raise for 2026, plus a lump-sum cash payment that would avoid upending negotiations with eighty other unions. They’re also willing to consider the offer if unions were willing to give up work rules that fetch higher pays for certain tasks. The unions have declined that possibility.
Workers say they haven’t received a raise since 2022 and the cost of living in one of the country’s most expensive regions hasn’t made matters easier.
If the unions take the 9.5% retroactive raise, the average worker would receive more than $25,000 in back pay, according to the MTA. However, the unions say that actual wage growth can be realized since the salaries would just fall behind inflation again.
The MTA reports that the LIRR carried about 82 million customers last year, most of whom were weekday commuters, but they’re noticing an uptick in weekend ridership. A typical Saturday carries about 137,000 passengers, 112,000 on Sundays.
Transit officials warn that if a strike occurs, the Long Island Expressway and the Northern State Parkway could see major traffic.
The MTA will provide free weekday buses beginning Monday morning from six Long Island locations to subway stops in Queens. Riders would be offered the same amenity going in the opposition direction during the evening hours. Buses will run from Bay Shore, Hicksville, and Mineola LIRR stations. One will charter from Hempstead Lake Park to Howard Beach-JFK Airport. Buses from Huntington and Ronkonkoma would take passengers to the F train stop at Jamaica-179th Street.
Buses to Queens would run every ten minutes from 4:30a.m. to 9:00a.m., with return shuttles operating from 3:00p.m. to 7:00p.m. Between 165 and 275 buses would be deployed at a cost of $325,000 to $550,000 per day. Even if the strike is averted, the MTA must still lay out the money to reserve the buses.
The last LIRR strike was in 1994 which only saw a two-day suspension of services.
