Where things stand as strike negotiations set to resume
Union leader Kevin Sexton checks his watch at 1:15 am after emerging from talks with the MTA alongside other union leaders. May 18, 2026. Credit: Ed Quinn
Talks between the MTA and the five striking LIRR unions are scheduled to resume at 7:30 a.m. after the National Mediation Board told both sides on Sunday night to resume negotiations.
The unions represent about 3,500 workers — roughly half the LIRR’s workforce — who have not had a raise since 2022.
Both sides have agreed on retroactive raises of 3% for the first two years of the contract as well as 3.5% for the current year. But they clashed over the union’s demand for a 5% pay hike in 2026. The MTA has offered a lower amount and wants to increase the amount newly hired employees would pay for healthcare.
Gov. Kathy Hochul told the striking workers she values their labor and believes they deserved a fair wage and benefits but that the MTA cannot agree to a contract “that would raise fares as much as 8% and risk hiking taxes for Long Islanders.”
Early Monday morning, MTA chief negotiator Gary Dellaverson told Newsday the two sides were “closer than we were this morning.”
Around the same time, Matt Hollis, national president of the Transportation Communications Union, posted an update on social media saying the union “gave the MTA every opportunity to avoid this. Instead, heading into a busy workweek, MTA leadership once again demonstrated that it does not value either the riding public or the hardworking men and women who keep this railroad moving.”
Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.
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