Posts tagged Long Island Railroad
MTA chairman: Workers would be ‘crazy’ to walk off job as LIRR strike threat looms
May 11, 2026 // "It's time for everybody to get serious about the fact that if you go on strike for one day, you are literally flushing money down the toilet for your workers," Lieber said. Five unions, representing 3,500 workers, are threatening to strike beginning on May 16. "If there is a work stoppage, there is going to be a complete and total shutdown of operations," O'Connor said.
Op-ed: Kathy Hochul and Bruce Blakeman must BOTH stand up to the union thugs threatening an LIRR strike
April 28, 2026 // To avoid a strike, the agency generously offered pay hikes of 4.5% in the fourth year, but the unions would have to agree to fix some perverse work rules to produce savings. Under one rule, for example, an engineer who operates a diesel train and an electric train on the same day must be paid for two days.
100% of Rail Union Political Advocacy Dollars Went to Left-Wing Organizations
January 27, 2026 // Now, labor leaders requested a newly penned Executive Order from President Trump mandating a board mediate disputes between unions associated with the Long Island Railroad, including BLET, and the New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority in order to avoid a strike. “The Teamsters union and its president, Sean O’Brien, continually make a show of crossing party lines and working with the current president,” said CUF communications director Charlyce Bozzello. “Don’t let their rhetoric fool you. The Teamsters’ own political advocacy skews almost completely to the left, and now we know the same is true for its major affiliates.”
Long Island Railroad Unionized Employees Are Ready to Strike on September 18
September 9, 2025 // Five unions could participate in the strike, representing about half of LIRR’s 7,000 employees. Two groups – the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers – began voting this week to organize the protest, while two others – the Transportation Communications Union and the International Association of Machinists – had already decided to do so a month ago. It is unclear whether the fifth and final union, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, will join the initiative. A month ago, the unions rejected an offer of a 9.5% pay increase over three years, which had been agreed upon by some LIRR and MTA employees.
NJ Transit CEO rails against union as strike looms
May 8, 2025 // The NJ Transit Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen could strike as early as May 16 if the two sides do not reach an accord. They’ve remained at odds over the level of wage hikes, with engineers seeking increases that would bring their average salary to $190,000, while the agency has pushed for a contract that would bring that wage up to $172,000. “If there’s any citizen, private or government, in this environment who’d get a $25,000 pay raise and say, ‘No, no, that’s not good enough,’ does that sound like a group of people who are grounded in reality, or more importantly, on what is actually happening in the world we live in?” Kolluri told the Assembly’s budget committee. In written responses to questions asked through the Office of Legislative Services, NJ Transit warned it could face cost increases as a result of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, though it said it lacks the information needed to gauge the impact tariffs would have.
NJ Transit engineers threaten strike after rejecting labor deal
April 18, 2025 // "Our number one issue is wages. New Jersey Transit engineers are among the lowest paid in the entire country," said BLET Chairman Tim Haas. "We are significantly behind passenger railroad engineers working in this same market—that is, the New York City area. We're far behind Metro-North, Long Island Railroad, Amtrak, PATH—all these other agencies where the New Jersey Transit engineers are leaving to go and work."