Hochul visits MTA headquarters for briefing on negotiations
Gov. Kathy Hochul with members of MTA leadership, including chair and CEO Janno Lieber, left, at MTA headquarters in Manhattan on Monday. Credit: Gov. Kathy Hochul's Office
Gov. Kathy Hochul paid a visit Monday to MTA headquarters to be briefed by agency managers, her transit spokesman said.
Whichever way she got into the building, it wasn’t via the front entrance, where picketing strikers’ chants all morning have cycled through the rhyme, “New York is a union town! Kathy Hochul shut it down!”
The spokesman, Sean Butler, emailed photos of her meeting with Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chairman and chief executive, LIRR President Rob Free, NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow and others.
Butler said by email: "Governor Hochul continues to closely monitor the LIRR strike and travel alternatives. At 11 a.m., she received a briefing from MTA and state leaders on this morning's commute and the status of negotiations between the MTA and LIRR unions. She is pleased that the unions accepted her invitation to return to the table and encourages both parties to continue negotiating in good faith."
Hochul, who as governor effectively controls the MTA, had telephoned into the negotiations Friday, the morning before the talks collapsed and the strike began.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
Service restarts at noon Tuesday The MTA and the LIRR unions have reached an agreement to end the 3-day transit strike. NewsdayTV's Pat Dolan reports.
