NEW YORK \u2014 New York Gov. Kathy Hochul implored unions representing workers for the Long Island Rail Road, North America\u2019s largest commuter rail system, to resume bargaining Sunday, saying a long strike hurts workers and hundreds of thousands of commuters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my official invitation. We didn\u2019t want you to leave. You left. You\u2019re welcome to come back. I\u2019ll provide refreshments, whatever you like. Just c\u2019mon back,\u201d Hochul said as the strike \u2014 the first in three decades \u2014 entered its second day.<\/p>\n
Hochul, appearing with the chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that runs the railroad more commonly known by commuters as the \u201cLIRR,\u201d urged the unions to try to reach a deal before the Monday commute.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know that the railroad is the lifeblood of Long Island. Without it, life as we know it is simply not possible. The bottom line is, no one wins in a strike. Everyone is hurt,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The LIRR serves hundreds of thousands of commuters who live along a 118-mile-long land mass that includes Brooklyn and Queens in New York City and the Hamptons, a summertime playground for the rich and famous near its eastern tip.<\/p>\n
Most of its riders live outside New York City in two counties populated by nearly three million people.<\/p>\n
After the news conference, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Transportation Communications Union said in a statement that the union workers \u201care not asking for special treatment \u2014 they are simply fighting to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living in the New York region after years without a raise.\u201d<\/p>\n
The railroad closed down and workers went on strike just after midnight Friday after five unions representing about half its workforce walked off the job.<\/p>\n
The unions and the MTA have been negotiating for months on a new contract, with talks stalled over the question of workers\u2019 salaries and healthcare premiums. President Donald Trump\u2019s administration tried to broker a deal, but the unions were legally allowed to strike starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n
At her news conference, Hochul said workers would lose every dollar that they would gain with a new contract by remaining on strike for three days.<\/p>\n
Kevin Sexton, national vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, has said no new negotiations have been scheduled.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re far apart at this point,\u201d Sexton said Saturday. \u201cWe are truly sorry that we are in this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Hochul\u2019s news conference, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said the unions\u2019 proposals would \u201cblow up the MTA\u2019s budget\u201d but he joined the governor\u2019s request for the unions to resume talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey elected to walk out. We\u2019re more than willing to meet them halfway on wages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Would-be commuters were greeted all weekend by train schedule departure boards that listed ghost trains marked \u201cNo Passengers\u201d rather than upcoming trains listed by destination.<\/p>\n
Hochul said essential workers among the roughly 250,000 weekday LIRR riders can take buses into the city from six locations on Long Island starting at 4 a.m. Monday and during an evening rush-hour commute from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
Hochul, a Democrat, blamed the Trump administration for cutting mediation short and pushing the negotiations toward a strike. Trump, a Republican, responded Saturday, saying he had nothing to do with the strike and \u201cnever even heard about it until this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Kathy, it\u2019s your fault, and now looking over the facts, you should not have allowed this to happen,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Hochul urged companies and agencies that employ workers from Long Island to let them work from home whenever possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to fully replace LIRR service. So effective Monday, I\u2019m asking that regular commuters who can work from home, should. Please do so,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The MTA has said the unions\u2019 initial demands to raise salaries would result in large fare increases and be disproportionate to what other unionized workers are paid.<\/p>\n
The unions, which represent locomotive engineers, machinists, signalmen and other train workers, have said more substantial raises were warranted to help workers keep up with inflation and rising living costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 New York Gov. Kathy Hochul implored unions representing workers for the Long Island Rail Road,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[288,60127,1213,85,7299,9,11,10,12,15254],"class_list":["post-234718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-business","tag-commuter-rail","tag-labor","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nation","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-news","tag-strike"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234718","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=234718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}