Rail workers in New York reach tentative agreement after 3-day strike

New York, NY – On Monday, May 18, around 3500 Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) workers from five unions concluded a three-day strike. During the strike, rail workers shut down the busiest commuter train service in the United States, which transports between 250,000 and 300,000 passengers daily. New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli estimated that the strike cost the region $61 million per day.

This was the first LIRR strike since 1994. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York (MTA) failed to bargain in good faith, according to the rail unions involved, and workers hadn’t received a raise since 2022. The MTA offered a wage proposal that would have resulted in a 2.8% loss in real wages because of rising inflation. The workers demanded a 16% wage increase over three years. This set wages up to be one of the main issues at the bargaining table, along with changes to work rules.

The striking workers were represented by five different unions: the Teamsters-affiliated Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen (BLET), the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Transportation Communications Union. Together, those unions represent 55% of the unionized workforce at the Long Island Rail Road.

Although the details of the tentative agreement have not been publicly shared, BLET Vice President Kevin Sexton stated, “After years of negotiations, we’ve finally received an agreement that reflects the value our members bring to this railroad.”

The strike began at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, May 16, with 24 picket locations across Long Island and Manhattan. The process to get to the strike was very long, including years of negotiations, mediation from the National Mediation Board, and two Presidential Emergency Boards. This long and bureaucratic process comes from the Railway Labor Act, which applies to the airline and railroad industries and often seeks to prevent militant strikes in those important logistics fields.

In this case, the federal mediators sided, in a non-binding decision, with the union’s demands for real wage increases.

Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul was a key anti-worker politician throughout the fight. She has significant power over the MTA and appointed its CEO Janno Lieber. Hochul insisted that raises would lead to an 8% increase in fares. However, she and Lieber have now said that there will be no increase to fares or taxes since the strike was settled.

The tentative agreement is currently being reviewed and voted on by union workers. This was a significant rail strike and as such has been watched closely by other transit union workers, wondering if this may set a new precedent in union negotiations across the railroad and transit industries.

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