LIRR strike: Contract talks canceled while railroad promises more bus service in contingency plan

The return to the negotiating table for MTA management and five LIRR unions threatening to strike next month has been put on hold, according to the president of the railroad and the unions.

Long Island Rail Road President Rob Free also said Monday that the LIRR will add to the number of stations providing bus replacement service in the event of a union work stoppage.

Speaking at a Manhattan meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's railroad committee, Free said a planned conference with labor leaders Monday was "unfortunately" canceled. Free did not provide a reason for the cancellation, but said officials with the National Mediation Board, which organized the meeting, "let us know they will be rescheduling."

The mediation board did not respond to a request for comment.

A union spokesperson said while it was the National Mediation Board's decision to cancel the talks, the unions questioned the utility of meeting with MTA managers, given that they have not offered a new counterproposal.

It would have been just the second meeting this year between MTA officials and leaders of the five labor organizations representing about half of all LIRR union workers, including locomotive engineers, electricians, signal inspectors, machinists and ticket agents.

The unions are threatening to walk off the job as early as May 16 if they can't reach a settlement in a three-year-long contract dispute. Both sides have agreed on raises of 9.5% over the first three years of the contract, but unions want 5% in a fourth year — enough, they say, to keep up with the high cost of living and with raises offered throughout the railroad industry.

The MTA is offering 4.5% in a fourth year, but only if the unions agree to productivity increases and work rule concessions.

Free said the MTA remains "ready, willing and able" to talk to the unions.

"We absolutely don't want a strike. We've made a fair offer ... They're asking for a steep price," Free said.

MTA Board Member Neal Zuckerman, who chairs the board's finance committee, noted that the transportation authority practice of raising fares by about 4% every other year aims to account for a 2% annual increase in worker wages.

"Anytime anyone wants to be paid more than 2% a year, someone's got to pay to cover that," Zuckerman said. "So where's the money going to come from?"

While remaining hopeful for a settlement, transit advocates at the meeting urged the MTA to flesh out its strike contingency plan, which, as of September, included bus service between just three train stations on Long Island and three subway stations in Queens. 

LIRR Commuter Council chairman Gerard Bringmann, a non-voting MTA Board member, said "there's just simply not enough parking" at those three stations — Hicksville, Bellmore, and Ronkonkoma — to accommodate commuters. Bringmann suggested adding at least two more stations in Suffolk — recommending Babylon and Huntington — and another one along Nassau's South Shore.

Free said the LIRR is still developing its contingency plan, but vowed that "there will be additional busing locations." He said the railroad is analyzing ridership data to see where demand is highest and talking to bus providers. 

"There is a huge constraint on the number of buses we can get, but we're working on it," Free said. "There's a huge cost to doing that, because you're paying bus companies to be on hold, just in case there is a strike."

Free reiterated that, if a strike does occur, the railroad will encourage commuters to "telework" if at all possible.

Brian Fritsch, associate director of the MTA Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, a rider advocacy group, said that many essential employees, including nurses, teachers and construction workers, "do not have the option of working from home, even if traveling to their jobs will be arduous." 

Fritsch urged the MTA to come up with a "much more robust and comprehensive" contingency plan than what's been previewed so far. 

"Wars will be waged over parking," said Fritsch. "If there is a strike next month, riders cannot be collateral damage in the calamity." 

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.