Time to resolve LIRR impasse

It’s time to get a deal done.

The fate of Long Island Rail Road riders, local businesses and the region’s economy lies mostly in the hands of the unions.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has taken some significant steps to resolve the ongoing dispute with five LIRR unions that could lead to a strike as early as Saturday. That includes the decision to take lucrative work rules off the negotiating table for now.

While it’s disappointing that the MTA’s best way forward was to allow those antiquated practices to remain in place, management has made a significant move to the middle. The authority continues to offer the sought-after fourth year of a contract at a reasonable 3% salary increase, with added lump-sum payments, too. MTA officials noted Wednesday that their current offer, while structured differently, is valued at the same amount as the recommendation of the Presidential Emergency Board, mediators appointed by the White House who twice sided with the unions. The singular bonus payments help the MTA avoid setting a new raise pattern for other unions which could balloon operating costs further.

So far, however, none of that has been good enough for the five holdout unions, which represent less than half of the LIRR’s workforce and include locomotive engineers, clerks, electricians, machinists and signal workers. The unions and the MTA agree on the first three years — at raises of 3%, 3% and 3.5%, respectively. But they’re stuck on that fourth-year bump. Publicly, the unions have sought a 5% raise in that last year — a financially unsustainable proposal.

Without disclosing details, MTA officials said the unions made their first “material move” on Wednesday. That’s a good sign but it’s not enough.

The MTA is on track to give workers a more than reasonable contract that preserves the extra work rules goodies the unions embrace, such as earning double pay for flipping a switch and not permitting ticket clerks to do other tasks when their windows are slow — even as most customers buy their tickets online these days. Now, the unions must close the deal, with a resolution that won’t destroy the MTA’s budget and cause fare increases. If they don’t, local elected officials who stood with the unions at last weekend’s rally, including Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine and various state lawmakers, shouldn’t be surprised when their constituents are angry after suffering from a strike — or being asked to pay more.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has tried to toe the line between noting that workers deserve fair pay and saying the MTA must “be responsible with public funds.” Wednesday afternoon, she urged both sides to, as a spokesman put it, “get in a room and negotiate around the clock.”

It’s the right strategy. Union and MTA representatives are expected to next meet Thursday morning. Keep working on a deal — that’s what’s best for both Long Island’s riders and its rail workers.