LIRR strike ends but changes still needed

The end of the Long Island Rail Road strike comes as relief, even as the details remain devilish.

The disruption of service for three days was precipitated by less than half of the railway’s union membership. It was a callous disregard for the well-being of riders and the region’s businesses which pay for their comfortable wages and generous pension benefits. The workers for the nation’s busiest commuter rail had a good deal on the table even before the strike, and they should have taken it. 

Disappointingly, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and unions started these negotiations way too late, leading to the three-day strike. This four-year contract will have three years of wages paid retroactively; that's a long time to have let an agreement slide. Unfortunately, management backed off on its demands to eliminate costly work rules that increase copious, if not dubious, overtime and bonus pay.

The LIRR’s other unions had already settled for a 9.5% increase in salary for the past three years, but they honored the picket line set up by those initially wanting a fourth year paying 5%. If the pot was sweetened for them, the other unions will want the same benefit.

But knowing it was possible to negotiate a deal that more than half the union membership approved indicates that a strike could have been avoided. The gamesmanship disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of riders, choking the area’s roads and harming local businesses.

According to the MTA, meeting the dissenting unions’ demands of a 5% raise for 2027 could have meant a matching boost for the entire organized workforce, adding $270 million in annual costs. The MTA had calculated that could translate into an 8% fare hike, with ticket increases of up to $468 annually for those who buy monthly tickets.  

Those demanding that Gov. Kathy Hochul kick in more taxpayer dollars to cover their wage increases don't get the bigger picture. The LIRR already is the most heavily subsidized unit in the MTA.

One premise of organized labor is to help those without any bargaining power get a fair deal from management. But that is hardly the case for LIRR unions who block changes in any rules that would make operations more efficient and less costly. This has been the case for decades.

Now that the current contract dispute is settled, pending membership ratification, action must start on removing the LIRR from the jurisdiction of the federal Railway Labor Act. Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, who created the state authority which then acquired the Long Island Rail Road, let it continue. That was a bad mistake. The LIRR then had a freight system, but even after that operation was sold, the federal rules remained. LIRR workers must come under New York’s Taylor Law which prohibits strikes by public workers. That’s the law governing the New York City subway system; the LIRR should be not treated any differently.