LIRR strike looms as wage disputes continue

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Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) workers could go out on strike by this time next week.

Some 3,700 LIRR employees –– members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS), International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and Transportation Communications Union (TCU) –– want cost-of-living raises and are voting on whether they should go out on strike to get them.

The unions are waiting for the results of a strike authorization vote by BLET members to determine whether to authorize a strike. Results of this vote are expected by September 15. If the majority of BLET members vote in favor, the strike could begin as early as September 18. The strike could only be halted by the unions, MTA, or Governor Hochul’s request for the Trump administration to appoint a presidential emergency mediation board.

The potentially striking employees, who make up more than half of the LIRR’s unionized workforce, are advocating for cost-of-living raises and claim that they have not received a salary increase since April 16, 2022. Their ongoing contract dispute with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has been in mediation since February 2024, following the TCU’s rejection of a tentative agreement.

According to reports, the MTA offered the unions a three-year contract with more than 3 percent yearly fractional increase that totaled out at 9.5 percent. While other LIRR unions accepted that offer, these five unions rejected it. Instead, these unions want a three-year contract with 15% raises — they say that would match the agreements secured by rail workers elsewhere in the country.

“We are only asking for a fair contract — one that provides modest wage gains, or at the very least, maintains real wages,” Gil Lang, general chair for the BLET’s LIRR engineers, stated in a press release. “Our members would not ratify anything short of that.”

This fight for a strong contract takes place as railroad unions attempt to secure the future of their members’ jobs, many of which are being threatened by new technologies.

Last month, BLET President Mark Wallace told members at a western regional meeting that the use of new, unproven technologies is threatening their jobs.

“Technology is advancing rapidly. And the carriers see it as an excuse to cut jobs,” he warned. “Automation. Remote control. One-person crews. All pushed in the name of profit. But let me be clear: we are not anti-technology. Technology can and should be used to make railroading safer, more efficient, and more sustainable. It should assist the men and women in the cab, not replace them.

“We are not anti-technology. We are anti-exploitation. When technology is used responsibly, as a tool to support workers, to reduce risks, and to protect communities, we welcome it. But when it is used recklessly, as a weapon to eliminate jobs, to undermine safety, or to squeeze more profit out of fewer people, we will immediately oppose it with everything we have.”