LIer on strike: 'It's essentially extortion'
Centerport resident Jim Malloy called the union’s strike “unconscionable” on Saturday morning.
“It’s essentially extortion,” he told Newsday at the Greenport LIRR station. “They’re shutting down a public service in order to coerce the politicians, who purportedly represent the people, to pay them more money.”
“They’re holding transportation hostage from the public who pays them,” he added.
Malloy cited the average pay for a LIRR employee. In 2024, that figure was $121,646, plus an average of nearly $26,000 in overtime, according to the nonprofit Empire Center for Public Policy.
“Plus they get retirement [and] lifetime health care,” he said. “I want everyone to make a good income and have a good life — I’m not trying to take anything away from anybody. But at some point it becomes economically unfeasible.”
Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.
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