With the prospect of a chaotic Monday rush hour looming, transit worker unions and the MTA remained at an impasse on day two of the historic Long Island Rail Road strike Sunday — with the governor urging commuters to work from home if they can.
The MTA has laid out a list of alternatives for commuting between Long Island and New York City, most of which involve taking shuttle buses or Nassau County NICE buses to locations that connect to the subway system in Queens.
“Extra trains are on standby, and the New York City subway service stands ready to reach the demand,” Hochul said Sunday, adding, “Let’s face the facts — it’s impossible to fully replace LIRR service, so effective Monday, I’m asking that regular commuters who can work from home, should. Please do so.”
Every day, roughly 300,000 people ride the LIRR, making it the most heavily used commuter train service on the continent.
“Employers should make every accommodation necessary to allow for remote work,” Hochul said, noting, “I’ve already directed all state agencies affected to implement telecommuting plans for the state employees who typically come in from Long Island.”
Susan Watts / Office of Governor Hochul
Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA Chairman Janno Lieber speak to the media about the LIRR strike on Sunday. (Susan Watts / Office of Governor Hochul)
Standing alongside MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber, Hochul called the MTA’s contract offers “fair,” and asked the unions to return to the negotiating table.
“Here’s my official invitation. We didn’t want you to leave. You left. You’re welcome to come back. I’ll provide refreshments, whatever you like. Just come on back,” she said.
“We were more than willing to meet them halfway on wages,” Lieber said. “In fact, they wanted much more than halfway.”
In a statement Sunday, though, two of the unions representing the workers, the IAM Union and the Transportation Communications Union, described what they called “a disconnect between Mr. Lieber and the reality faced by workers who have gone four years without a raise.”
“There also seems to be a disconnect between Mr. Lieber and the governor around what has transpired here and why,” the unions said. “We are not sure why Mr. Lieber is telling the governor that these offers are fair. Waiting four years for a raise is not fair, sustainable or realistic in an era of record inflation and rising housing costs. There appears to be a serious communication breakdown between Janno Lieber, MTA executives and the governor’s office about the realities of these negotiations.”
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
LIRR workers picket outside Jamaica station in Queens on Saturday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Hochul also blamed the Trump administration for the strike, telling reporters Sunday, “Let me be clear, this strike would not have been possible if the Trump administration had not taken the highly unusual step last fall of releasing labor unions from mediation.”
Trump lashed out against the governor in a Saturday morning post on Truth Social: “Failed New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, a Dumacrat, just blamed ME for her Long Island Railroad STRIKE, when she knows, full well, that I have NOTHING TO DO WITH IT – never even heard about it until this morning.”
But Hochul’s criticism of the Trump administration dates back to last September, when she called out the President for the looming threat of “a strike encouraged by Donald Trump and enabled by his allies in Washington.”
Saturday’s service shutdown comes after more than two years of contract negotiations, two federal mediation boards and two weeks of talks that failed to find common ground on the one outstanding issue — raises.
The two sides settled over back pay, with a handshake agreement to retroactively raise wages by 3% for 2023, 3% for 2024, and 3.5% for 2025.
Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News
LIRR tracks are closed at Atlantic Terminal Station in Brooklyn on Saturday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
The consortium of five LIRR trade unions — made up of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and the Transportation Communications Union — demanded a 5% raise for 2026, which they said was necessary to keep up with inflation.
After initially refusing to go above 3% without further concessions on overtime work rules, MTA leadership ultimately offered 3% plus a lump-sum payment for the difference between a 3% raise and one year of pay at 4.5%.
The unions argued that such a lump sum would only cover one year, regardless of how long a future contract took to negotiate.