{"id":234165,"date":"2026-05-16T21:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T21:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/234165\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T21:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T21:29:10","slug":"nyc-commuter-rail-unions-start-strike-affecting-300000-riders-daily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/234165\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC commuter rail unions start strike affecting 300,000 riders daily"},"content":{"rendered":"

The commuter rail system that runs between Long Island and New York City<\/a> is effectively shut down after 3,500 unionized workers<\/a> went on strike early Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Long Island Rail Road, which is the largest and busiest commuter railroad in North America, serves roughly 300,000 riders daily. The strike is expected to hamper commuting for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

Five unions representing about half of the railroad\u2019s workforce couldn\u2019t agree on a pay increase in monthslong negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. As a result, the strike took effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

The MTA said its leaders will continue to negotiate with the unions, but the public transit authority urged riders to be flexible until a deal is reached. This means commuters may need to work from home.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, there is no substitute for the Long Island Rail Road, and its shutdown will cause severe congestion and delays. Avoid nonessential travel and work from home if possible,\u201d the MTA said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cIf you must commute, give yourself ample travel time, no matter which mode you take. There will be congestion on the roads and travel alternatives will be near or at capacity due to an influx of additional riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, the MTA will provide shuttle buses to New York City subway stations. However, the plan isn\u2019t sufficient to address the large volume of commuters en route to the city each weekday.<\/p>\n

MTA CEO Janno Lieber said the state agency \u201cgave the union everything they said they wanted in terms of pay\u201d and that he believed the unions intended to walk out from the start.<\/p>\n

By Friday, the MTA and the unions were about 1% apart on wage increases before the talks failed. Unionized workers wanted a retroactive 9.5% wage increase that covered the last three years and an additional 5% raise for this year.<\/p>\n

No new negotiations to resolve the wage dispute have been scheduled, according to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.<\/p>\n

Gov. Kathy Hochul<\/a> (D-NY) urged both sides to return to the table immediately and restart discussions until a deal is made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision by some unions to strike over demands that would threaten that progress is reckless,\u201d she said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThese unions represent the highest paid workers of any railroad in the nation, yet they are demanding contracts that could raise fares as much as 8%, pit workers against one another, and risk tax hikes for Long Islanders. This is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hochul also blamed the Trump administration<\/a> for cutting mediation short and pushing the negotiations toward a strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor weeks, the MTA has attempted to negotiate in good faith and put multiple fair offers on the table that included meaningful wage increases,\u201d she added, \u201cbut you cannot make a deal if one side refuses to engage in good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unions had asked the Trump administration to intervene by forming an emergency board to review the dispute. Two federal panels, appointed by President Donald Trump<\/a>, recommended that the MTA offer the unions more money. The recommendation was not binding.<\/p>\n

The LIRR strike had been averted twice in the past year until this weekend.<\/p>\n

Trump fired back in a Truth Social post<\/a>, calling the Democratic governor a \u201cDumacrat\u201d for blaming him when he \u201cnever even heard about\u201d the strike \u201cuntil this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just blurted out, \u2018it\u2019s President Trump\u2019s fault,’\u201d he wrote. \u201cNo, Kathy, it\u2019s your fault, and now looking over the facts, you should not have allowed this to happen. If you can\u2019t solve it, let me know, and I\u2019ll show you how to properly get things done.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes as Hochul seeks reelection this year. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Trump-endorsed Republican who\u2019s running for governor, criticized his opponent\u2019s lack of leadership leading up to the railroad strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cHundreds of thousands of Long Islanders woke up to chaos because Kathy Hochul failed to do her job,\u201d Blakeman said. \u201cThis strike didn\u2019t come out of nowhere \u2014 Hochul knew this deadline was coming and still allowed commuters, small businesses, nurses, teachers, and tourists to become collateral damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The railroad shutdown could cost the region up to $61 million per day, according to an estimate<\/a> from New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.<\/p>\n

Hochul\u2019s campaign later provided a statement in response to Blakeman\u2019s attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Governor Hochul is focused on affordability, protecting commuters, and getting trains running again, \u2018100% MAGA\u2019 Blakeman is doing what he always does: rooting for dysfunction and higher costs so he can score political points with Donald Trump,\u201d campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said. \u201cBlakeman spent years jacking up property taxes and making Long Islanders\u2019 lives more expensive \u2014 New Yorkers can\u2019t afford his leadership, and neither can his own constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n

HOCHUL SENDS NYC ANOTHER $4 BILLION TO HELP CLOSE CITY\u2019S BUDGET GAP<\/a><\/p>\n

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> said his office will continue to \u201cclosely monitor the ongoing contract negotiations involving the LIRR.\u201d He urged New Yorkers to plan for alternative transit options.<\/p>\n

This is the first strike affecting the railroad since 1994. The last strike only lasted two days. It remains unclear how long the latest strike will last.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The commuter rail system that runs between Long Island and New York City is effectively shut down after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[426,9,24,55,54,56,53665,608,655,3555,82],"class_list":["post-234165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-railroads","tag-transportation","tag-trump-administration","tag-unions","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}