LIRR strike: MTA says 8% fare hike possible to meet union demands

Paying Long Island Rail Road workers the raises they're demanding to avoid a strike could lead to service cuts, job reductions, or fare hikes as high as 8% — twice the usual rate, MTA officials said Wednesday.

But LIRR labor leaders, who met with Metropolitan Transportation Authority managers for an impromptu bargaining session Wednesday, blasted the figure as baseless, and maintained the MTA can afford to pay workers a fair wage without digging deeper into riders' pockets to pay for it.

MTA officials on Wednesday also released new details of their strike contingency plan, which now includes shuttle buses serving five Long Island locations.

The MTA and five labor organizations representing roughly half of all LIRR union workers are locked in a contract dispute that could result in the first railroad work stoppage in more than 30 years beginning on May 16. The two sides have agreed on the terms of the first three years of a deal, with raises totaling 9.5%, as has already been accepted by most MTA unions.

The LIRR unions still holding out want a fourth year at 5%. The MTA has offered between 3% and 4.5%, depending on contract concessions.

At the transit authority's monthly Manhattan board meeting, MTA officials laid out what they said were the potential consequences of acquiescing to the demands of the five unions, which represent locomotive engineers, electricians, machinists, signal workers, and ticket clerks. Because, other unions — including those representing more than 40,000 city bus and subway workers — would expect the same terms as those given to the 3,400 LIRR workers in the contract dispute, transit officials said giving in to them would cost the MTA an extra $200 million a year.

The MTA's options to cover the extra costs, MTA Chief Financial Officer Jai Patel said, include cutting transit service, reducing jobs, having the state raise taxes, or hiking fares by 8% in 2027, instead of the usual 4% biennial rate increase.

"The entire MTA, and not just the Long Island Rail Road, has to pay for this somehow," Patel said.

Kevin Sexton, national vice president of Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and a spokesman for the coalition of five unions, called the threat of an 8% fare hike "absolute, unadulterated, shameless fearmongering."

Sexton said the MTA's figures are "not based in fact" and are disputed by federal mediators who have reviewed MTA's finances.

LIRR union leaders have said the MTA has the money now to pay the requested raises, saying the agency has $765 million in surplus funds and tax revenue from casinos and congestion pricing. They say the raises are necessary to keep up with the soaring cost of living in New York, and to keep pace with agreements reached by other railroad unions in the industry. 

White House-appointed mediators have also said "there is nothing in the record to lead us to conclude that the [MTA] cannot afford the increases ... or that the burden on the City, the State, or the riding public would be excessive."

Members of the five unions threatening to strike made on average $122,443 in 2024, the latest year available, according to a Newsday analysis of payroll data.

With the May 16 deadline drawing nearer, MTA officials on Wednesday began warning riders directly of a potential railroad shutdown, including through a new website, mta.info/lirrstrike, which includes information about a plan to help commuters get to work and back without trains running.

After receiving criticism over an earlier contingency plan, which included shuttle buses serving just three LIRR stations on Long Island, MTA officials announced an expanded plan with buses from five locations — LIRR stations at Mineola, Hicksville, Huntington and Ronkonkoma, plus Hempstead Lake State Park. Buses will take riders to and from two subway stations in Queens during the rush hours.

Locomotive engineer union head Gilman Lang, flanked by other railroad labor leaders, addressed MTA leaders during the public comment session of Wednesday's board meeting, accusing them of showing "no sense of urgency" in resolving the three-year long contract dispute. 

"Rather than working toward a settlement, the MTA is preparing the public for a failure," said Lang, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, who predicted that a work stoppage will "paralyze" Long Island.

"The impact will be felt across this region — riders stranded, businesses hurt, Long Island at a standstill. And it would have been completely avoidable," he said.

Following Lang’s remarks, MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber challenged the LIRR union leaders in attendance to "go in the back room" with MTA labor relations chief Anita Miller and LIRR President Rob Free and work on a deal.

"The suggestion that the MTA has not been willing to negotiate is nonsense. So let’s get this going right now," Lieber said. "Let’s get this done right now, right here today."

Standing at the back of the room, Nicholas Peluso, head of the Transportation Communications Union, gave Lieber a thumbs-up and said "let’s go."

The two sides huddled in a conference room at the MTA's headquarters until early Wednesday afternoon. Although no resolution was reached, both sides said they left with firm plans to meet again in the near future.

"I think it was positive," Lieber said. "I know those discussions are continuing, and that's a step forward."