NEW YORK: About 3,500 workers for the Long Island Rail Road went on strike Saturday after contract negotiations failed, shutting down the nation’s busiest commuter rail system just ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.
The strike, the first in more than three decades, was launched by a group of five unions represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, according to a union statement. Workers have gone three years without raises during the bargaining process.
The LIRR serves nearly 300,000 passengers daily. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority confirmed the service suspension on its website.
The MTA asked commuters to work from home when possible and warned that the shutdown would cause severe congestion and delays. The agency said it would provide limited shuttle buses on weekdays for essential workers and those unable to work remotely.
“For weeks, the MTA has attempted to negotiate in good faith and put multiple fair offers on the table that included meaningful wage increases, but you cannot make a deal if one side refuses to engage in good faith,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement.
Hochul, who is seeking reelection later this year, urged both sides to return to the bargaining table.
MTA CEO Janno Lieber said the agency could not make a deal that “implodes its budget,” adding that the last rejected offer gave the unions “everything they said they wanted in terms of pay.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January appointing a second emergency board to conduct mediation aimed at averting a work stoppage after the unions asked him to intervene.
