LIRR strike talks: No deal after unions, MTA summoned Sunday night

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and striking Long Island Rail Road unions were summoned to talks in lower Manhattan Sunday evening as Long Island braced for the possibility of its first weekday rush hour without its trains, a daunting test of residents' patience, ingenuity and tolerance for pain.

The National Mediation Board called the five striking LIRR unions and MTA management to the authority's headquarters for further negotiations, union and MTA officials said, but the strike will continue into a third day after MTA representatives and union officials representing around 3,500 workers failed to reach a deal on a new contract after an hours-long round of negotiations. The talks will resume at 7:30 a.m.

MTA chief negotiator Gary Dellaverson told Newsday about 1:30 a.m. that the two sides were “closer than we were this morning.”  

Kevin Sexton, national vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said the talks were cordial, adding, "We're making progress." He said union representatives appreciated the work of federal mediators in the bargaining.

Before that, there was an apparent stalemate and sides seemed far from a deal after talks broke down Friday night, with both sides blaming the other for the work stoppage.

On Sunday, Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA leaders called on the striking unions, representing about half the railroad's 7,000-member workforce, to come to the table. Hundreds of striking workers, meanwhile, continued to picket at normally bustling travel hubs like Ronkonkoma and Jamaica stations that were now train-less and cordoned off.

The unions, whose members have not had a raise since 2022, have agreed with the MTA on a retroactive wage increases of 3% over the first two years and 3.5% this year, which other MTA unions have already accepted. But the MTA has been unwilling to meet the striking unions' demand for a 5% pay raise in 2026. Instead, it has offered a lower amount in the contract’s fourth year, and asked that new hires contribute more for their healthcare.

Addressing the striking workers, Hochul said: "I value your labor, and I believe that you deserve fair wages and benefits. But this strike has put all that at risk. ... The MTA cannot agree to a contract that would raise fares as much as 8% and risk hiking taxes for Long Islanders."

The unions have disputed that their demands would lead to an 8% fare increase, tax hikes or service cuts, pointing to recent MTA budget surpluses and saying it could use additional money from congestion tolling and other sources.

MTA chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said union negotiators walked out, but "we're more than willing to meet them halfway on wages."

Duane O'Connor, vice general chairman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and an LIRR locomotive engineer, pushed back at an event in Long Beach Sunday morning, saying: "We wanted a resolution. We want to work. We are working people, we support our families. ... They forced us into this."

Steve Ammireti, a board member of BLET who's representing striking LIRR workers, asked Long Island residents who are scrambling for transportation options to be patient during the work stoppage.

"We are fighting for a fair contract and we apologize if that falls on them at the end of the day, but that's on Hochul," Ammireti said.

The governor wields influence over the MTA and nominates its CEO, but she is not a direct party to the negotiations, which are handled by the CEO’s office. Hochul called into the negotiating sessions before they broke down on Friday, and spent time at MTA headquarters Saturday, according to her office.

Can't visit sick mother

Long Islanders faced hours-longer travel, expensive cab rides and uncertainties over itineraries on Saturday and Sunday, highlighting just how many people rely on the LIRR to get around Long Island and into and out of the city. 

For many riders, the situation has bred continued anxiety about how to get into work on Monday. For others, the concern is about how to visit loved ones.

Coram resident Susi Nunez usually takes the LIRR to visit her ailing mother in the city on the weekends.

"My mother is in the hospital, and I’m trying to go see my mother, but there’s no way for me to go out there," she told Newsday as she changed buses at the Brentwood LIRR station on Sunday afternoon.

Nunez said she doesn’t know how to efficiently commute to the city without the LIRR, adding that the one bus route available from out in Suffolk is "a headache."

"Hopefully the train will start working, but who knows," she added.

Michael Colucci, a locomotive engineer and engine service coordinator with the LIRR, said that if the strike bleeds into the week it would be a financial blow to businesses and union members alike.

"This affects everything on Long Island. Clearly commerce is now grinding to a slow trickle at this point. And not only that, our families are suffering. We’re not getting paid," he said. "But we have to stick together and stay the course to ensure that we get a fair and equitable contract."

Larger effect

Before the talks were announced Sunday night, Marc Herbst, an LIRR board member who represents Nassau County, said he worried now that the strike had begun, getting to a resolution may be even more difficult than it was before.

"My fear right now is that level heads are not going to prevail, and it's devolving into political grandstanding and name-calling, and we need to get back to looking at the financial stability of the system," Herbst said.

While the current contract involves only about 3,500 LIRR workers, it could set a precedent for the more 40,000 other unionized workers under the MTA.

Herbst praised the unions for "fighting the hard fight for their members," but said "the MTA cannot pay a 5% increase to 43,500 employees without raising rates, ridership fares and tax increases."

Together with the prior-year increases, a 5% raise in the final year of the contract would amount to a 14.5% raise over four years, the unions have said. Compounded, that is 15.3% over four years.

The MTA has reported to mediators the median salary among the five striking unions was $131,212 in 2024, which it says is the highest in the country. But the unions have said when accounting for cost of living, and for special pay outside of regular wages — including for receiving special training — several other railroads pay more.

In an October report, a White House-appointed mediation board sided with the unions, saying that while LIRR workers have historically been paid "at the top of the rates" of all U.S. commuter railroads, "the excellent compensation package ... provides no reason for not providing employees appropriate wage increases."

The mediation board released the parties from mediation last year, paving the legal pathway for a strike to begin. The national mediation board is a three-member body appointed by the White House tasked with mediating rail and airline industry labor disputes.

Earlier this month the MTA had proposed a 4.5% pay raise but with accompanying productivity increases and work rule concessions that union leaders rejected, saying the terms would amount to a pay cut.

On Friday, the MTA offered another deal close to 5%, with a portion paid as a lump sum and requiring new hires to contribute more than the current 2% of base pay toward their health insurance.

Michael Sullivan, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, said negotiations were moving along before this last-minute offer "blew up" the talks.