How striking LIRR unions could set precedent for other railroad workers

The LIRR strike is a symptom of the region’s affordability crisis, which has only spiraled in the years since the pandemic, an expert on transportation and labor relations told Newsday.

In the past year alone, from April 2025 to April 2026, consumer prices in the New York metro area rose 4.6%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

One of the reasons the MTA is “trying to drag their feet” is because giving in would provide other railroad unions — and perhaps, more broadly, other workers in the metro area — the power to negotiate similar raises, said Art Wheaton, an expert on transportation industries and director of labor studies at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

“It’s called pattern bargaining. If you give [a raise] to one, other members of similar or related industries will also ask or try to fight for that same increase. So it does have spillover costs for other employers as well,” he said.

The ability to negotiate raises depends on how much leverage workers have, Wheaton said, but raises for LIRR workers “does help other people, even if they’re not directly or indirectly related. Once you start giving raises, it’s like ‘Hey, this is a reasonable request. They got it here. We want it too.’”

The MTA has agreed to retroactive wage increases for LIRR workers of 3% for 2023 and 2024, and 3.5% in 2025, but has been unwilling to agree to a 5% raise in 2026 and has asked new hires to contribute more for healthcare, Newsday has previously reported.

Payroll records show the median salary among the five striking unions was $131,212 in 2024, Newsday has reported. A fact-finding report recommended a 4.5% raise for railroad workers in 2026.

Under the Railway Labor Act, there’s a possibility that Congress will get involved to end the strike, Wheaton said.

Besides subways, the LIRR is among the biggest movers of passengers for trains in the United States, he noted.

Hundreds of thousands take the LIRR each day. No trains running means more traffic on the roads, which means slower deliveries and more people who can’t get to work in time or at all, he said.

“That’s why they’re encouraging people just to work from home. The infrastructure can’t handle that many cars,” he said.

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers personal finance and affordability for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.