Contract negotiations between five unions representing Long Island Railroad workers and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are underway, but If the two sides don’t reach an agreement, the New York City region faces the threat of a strike that could begin at 12:01 a.m. May 16.
With a railway that carries roughly 300,000 riders a day, the imminent deadline has the MTA planning for an all-service shutdown. Union leaders say they’re fighting to close a pay gap and win raises that keep pace with the cost of living in the region — and with recent agreements rail workers have secured elsewhere.
The coalition of unions includes the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Transportation Communications Union. Together they represent engineers, signal workers, machinists, electricians, and other essential crafts.
Both sides say they’ve aligned on retroactive raises for the first three years of a new contract: 3% for 2023, 3% for 2024, and 3.5% for 2025. The standoff has been over the last year. The unions want 5%; the MTA is offering 3% and says going higher would strain the agency’s finances and could hit riders with higher costs.
Long Island Railroad ‘Cannonball’ is a seasonal train that runs between New York City’s Penn Station and Montauk on the east end of Long Island. (Credit: MTA)
MTA officials also point to work rules they say drive up costs, including extra pay for engineers who operate different types of trains in a single day. Without changes, the agency argues, it can’t responsibly raise its wage offer. Union leaders counter that trading away protections without a stronger final-year raise would leave workers falling behind in one of the country’s most expensive regions. The unions have not seen a raise since their last contract expired in April 2022.
For the MTA, a strike means the Long Island Railroad could shut down entirely. Last year, after months of stalled talks and a strike authorization vote, the five-union coalition asked the White House to intervene under the Railway Labor Act, which allows unions to request that the president appoint a Presidential Emergency Board. The board holds hearings, reviews the dispute, and issues recommendations. Its recommendations aren’t binding — but it’s part of a process that includes a legal pause. While the board is working and during a required cooling-off period afterward, workers can’t strike, and management can’t lock them out. Trains keep running as the fight moves into a federally supervised lane.
When the board issued its recommendations, it called for some 14% in raises over four years — 3% for 2023, 3% for 2024, 3.5% for 2025, and 4.5% in the final year — plus a $3,000 lump-sum payment after ratification. The unions said the numbers validated their case for better pay. The MTA said it would not accept those recommendations.
Unless negotiators settle the final-year wage number and any remaining work-rule issues, the coalition says its members are ready to walk. The MTA says it will have no choice but to halt its railroad services. Talks are expected to continue up to the May 16 deadline.
