Posts tagged Transport Workers Union Local 100
Op-ed: This LIRR Strike Should Be the Last
May 20, 2026 // Public employees in New York do not have the right to strike. The RLA, however, supersedes state law, effectively granting the railroad’s workers this right. Much has changed over a century, and this exception should no longer apply. In 1966, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority absorbed the LIRR, making the railroad a public employer. In 1980, federal courts rejected an attempt to enforce New York’s strike prohibition, in part because the LIRR was still hauling freight at that time. It no longer does. Nonetheless, the federal exemption has proved a powerful tool for the LIRR’s unions. Each time their labor contracts come up for negotiation, these groups threaten LIRR riders, and New York governors, with stoppages. They’ve carried out the threat before, most recently in 1987 and 1994.
Transport Workers Union Local 100 seeks right to strike with labor deal set to expire in May
March 20, 2023 // The state's Taylor Law makes it illegal for them to strike. When union workers walked off the job in 2005, they received a $2.5 million fine and the union leader was jailed. Rail workers, though, operate under the Federal Railway Labor Act, allowing them to strike. State Sen. Jessica Ramos is one of two Democrats from Queens who introduced the legislation.