Striking workers picketing at LI train yard plan to be there 'every day'

At the LIRR train yard in Babylon, more than a dozen striking union workers stood guard in matching shirts with signs. Many brought chairs and had water and soda, but even early in the morning, it was hot on the pavement.

The plan is to take shifts, said strike captain Kelly Cassidy, a locomotive engineer. This crew had been outside since 7 a.m. and planned to stay until the next group comes to relieve them around 1 p.m. That group will stay until 7 p.m.

“Seven to seven. It’s going to be every day until we’re told to go back to work,” she said.

They’re striking because MTA does not pay its workers a fair wage, Cassidy said. MTA wages have not risen at the same pace as local inflation and LIRR workers are “literally being priced out of our own homes.”

Plus, “working for the railroad, to be quite honest with you, it’s dangerous,” she added.

Cassidy herself has been disabled since a train wreck in 2001 in Syosset. She has three herniated bulging discs in her back, two herniated discs in her neck and nerve damage in both her arms. She has another two years to go before retirement.

“Most of us are leaving disabled. Some of us never get to actually retire because for one reason or another, they lose their lives before retirement - whether they get hurt at work, whether it’s health issues, whatever the case,” she said.

The job comes with risks. Sometimes it’s inclement weather. It might be something like the fire at Penn Station earlier this week.

“It is literally a crapshoot every day coming to work,” she 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.