Unions’ hidden LIRR-strike scheme aims to pick everyone’s pockets

The Long Island Rail Road strike that began early Saturday continues upending commutes from Manhattan to Suffolk County. 

Unbeknownst to most riders, they’re collateral damage in a much bigger but less visible fight that could slam the entire MTA region with both higher fares and heavier taxes. 

Negotiations over the LIRR’s union contracts, which came up for renewal in 2023, have been dragging on for three years. 

The slow pace of the talks means they now must cover a fourth year, potentially affecting the MTA’s other union contracts as those talks open up. 

On top of offering raises, LIRR management has pressed unsuccessfully to reform the railroad’s rigid and inefficient work rules. 

These ancient contract provisions are why LIRR still must print paper paychecks in the year 2026 — and a major reason why more than 300 agency workers got six-figure overtime payments last year, on top of their base pay. 

New York’s Taylor Law, which governs most public-sector employees, forbids them from legally calling a strike. 

But owing to the LIRR’s historical quirks (it was once privately run and hauled freight), its employees are covered by the federal Railway Labor Act — and Congress has been slow to update the statute.  

So some taxpayer-funded transit operations still face work stoppages, as New Jersey Transit did a year ago. 

That gives these unions unique leverage — from which the MTA’s other unions now look to benefit, thanks to the notion of “pattern bargaining.” 

Before the strike began, the LIRR and the unions had agreed to three years’ worth of raises.

But talks broke down because the unions wanted a bigger raise in the fourth year than the 3% offered by the LIRR.  

That’s on top of the agreed-upon 9.8% raises (with back pay) and $3,000 lump-sum payments. 

The LIRR was open to even bigger lump sums, if only the unions would agree to money-saving work rules. 

But the union bosses balked. 

Notably, some of the harshest criticism of LIRR management isn’t coming from the LIRR unions, but from other unions soon set to bargain with the MTA. 

The New York City Transit Authority, the MTA’s biggest agency, is negotiating with TWU Local 100, which reps about 40,000 subway and bus workers. 

Local 100’s contract expired this month, and the union is watching the LIRR talks with great interest — because the LIRR settlement could largely “set the pattern” for raises on which the MTA’s other labor deals get negotiated. 

Anything the LIRR agrees to in settling its strike could be entered into evidence if the MTA and TWU Local 100 must resolve their contract by binding arbitration.

Increases in union pay scales would be weighed far more heavily than what are typically circumstance-specific lump-sum payments. 

When Local 100 struck illegally back in 2005, it suffered financial penalties so fierce that the union had to sell its headquarters. 

So today, TWU is left striking-by-proxy. 

John Samuelsen, the head of TWU’s parent union, has for many months been relentlessly attacking not just LIRR and MTA management but Gov. Kathy Hochul herself.  

Samuelsen likely hoped that Hochul would right now be in the throes of a complicated gubernatorial primary, and would therefore be demanding LIRR leaders’ capitulation to save her from voters’ wrath. 

Alas for the TWU, Hochul avoided a June primary, depriving the union of an obvious avenue to extract more by threatening to support a challenger.

The absence of a primary threat has given her political cover — at least so far — to hold firm. 

By contrast, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman, who supports the strike, is being taken for a ride. 

He’s supporting an insatiable and unsustainable money grab. 

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has taken a back seat in the LIRR dispute, declining to support either side — effectively placing Blakeman to the socialist mayor’s left. 

Hochul is stepping up as the responsible adult, rightly warning that the union’s demands would cost LIRR riders up to 8% in higher fares, and higher taxes for Long Islanders overall.  

MTA boss Janno Lieber has likewise warned that the TWU is attempting “to force the MTA and the state to do a bad deal.” 

Fixing the issue for good requires Congress to update the Railway Labor Act.

The law should exclude commuter rail systems, allowing states to set the rules on how they operate — and to ban strikes. 

In the meantime, as our colleague Nicole Gelinas has pointed out, Hochul has an unparalleled opportunity to champion the public interest by holding firm.

Beating back New York’s worst-offending public unions would prove that Hochul is serious about reining in unreasonable costs that raise fares and taxes without delivering better value. 

Hochul should tell TWU to stay in its lane — so she can get the LIRR back on track. 

Ken Girardin and John Ketcham are fellows at the Manhattan Institute.