A coalition of unions representing 3,500 Long Island Rail Road workers met with representatives of LIRR and MTA management on Monday, ahead of the looming possibility of a strike on the nation’s busiest commuter railroad.
Workers have said they could walk off the job as early as Saturday, May 16, if their demands for a new contract aren’t met.
A spokesman for the coalition — which is made up of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Transportation Communications Union — said that the unions met with transit officials Monday, and that additional talks were expected to take place Thursday.
An MTA spokesperson did not immediately respond.
Negotiations between the five unions and the MTA have stretched on for more than two years, focused largely on wages.
According to MTA Chief Financial Officer Jai Patel, both sides have agreed to retroactive raises of 3% for 2023, 3% for 2024, and 3.5% for 2025.
Raises for 2026 remain a hotly contested issue, however, with the unions demanding a 5% raise and the MTA insisting it cannot go above 3% without concessions from the unions on work rules.
Two mediation boards chosen by the White House — so-called “Presidential Emergency Boards” — have sided with the unions, recommending the 5% raise.
MTA officials have argued that the raise would break with the pattern expected by the agency’s other unionized work-forces and exceed the agency’s payroll budget — a situation that Patel warned could lead to fare increases or tax hikes.
“If we reach an agreement that does not lower cost through revised work-rules and goes beyond what we budgeted, we all foot the bill,” Patel said. “The entire MTA, not just the Long Island Rail Road, has to pay for this somehow.”
In response, a spokesman for the coalition of unions pointed the Daily News to the report filed by the second Presidential Emergency Board, which wrote, “there is nothing in the record to lead us to conclude that the Carrier cannot afford the increases proposed by the Organizations or that the burden on the City, the State, or the riding public would be excessive.”
Monday’s meeting is only the second face-to-face negotiation the two sides this year.