NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- New York City’s transit agency is bracing for tense negotiations with both its subway operators and Long Island Rail Road workers, setting the stage for a strike later this month that would cripple the nation’s largest commuter line.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that runs the city’s subway, bus and commuter trains, has been negotiating with LIRR unions over a wage increase that would start this year. After two failed rounds of federal mediation, there’s now a higher likelihood for a work stoppage as soon as May 16 — the same day the MTA’s contract with its nearly 40,000 subway and bus workers expires.
That’s teeing up “two epic showdowns,” according to John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union, which represents subway and bus workers. Whatever deal the MTA makes with the LIRR unions on this year’s wage boost will heavily influence negotiations with TWU workers, who will want what LIRR employees get, he said.
The stakes are high for Governor Kathy Hochul, who is seeking re-election in November against Republican candidate Bruce Blakeman. While MTA officials are managing the contract talks, Hochul has the ability to make or break a deal as she has oversight of the state agency.
The labor disputes come as both public transportation workers and riders struggle with higher prices for everything from groceries to gas to housing. Affordability issues were a key driver of last year’s New Jersey Transit rail strike, when the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen — the same union that represents LIRR workers — walked off the job for three days amid a fight over wages.
Although subway workers are prohibited from striking under state law, a shutdown of the LIRR would force roughly 300,000 weekday riders to work from home or find other ways to travel between Long Island and New York City. The last LIRR strike occurred in 1994.
“Governor Hochul’s position has been consistent: a strike would hurt LIRR workers and riders alike,” Sean Butler, a spokesman for the governor, said in an email. “It is critical that both sides come to the table and negotiate in good faith.”
Commuters at the Union Square subway station in New York.Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
Wage Negotiations
The MTA typically hammers out wage increases with the TWU and then uses that agreement as a template when negotiating with other unions, a tactic called pattern bargaining. But now the timing is off, as talks with LIRR workers are happening first.
The more than 3,000 LIRR workers haven’t had a raise in nearly four years. They also have the ability to halt LIRR service this month, unlike subway workers who are prohibited from striking under state law.
That gives a much smaller group of MTA employees a newfound leverage in labor negotiations.
“This would set a new bargaining pattern for 2026 before we’ve come to agreements with any other union,” Jai Patel, the MTA’s chief financial officer, warned the agency’s board members during its April meeting. She said that it’s unprecedented for this smaller unit to set the wage structure.
The MTA and the LIRR unions have agreed to a combined retroactive 9.5% increase over three years, but the labor groups want a 5% boost starting in 2026, higher than the MTA’s offer of 3%.
MTA officials have said a wage hike above that amount would require changes to work rules, such as when engineers receive double pay for operating electric and diesel trains on the same day. The unions have resisted that change.
“Our goal is to create an agreement that maintains real wage for our members and is not concessionary in nature,” Gilman Lang, BLET’s general chairman, told reporters during the MTA’s April board meeting.
LIRR unions and the MTA have gone through two Presidential Emergency Board negotiating periods, but the parties have yet to reach consensus. The PEB determined the unions’ final proposal to be “the most reasonable offer,” according to the PEB’s March 16 report. A “cooling off period” ends on May 16, which allows the unions to implement a strike.
MTA buses in a bus lane on Madison Avenue in New York.Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
Parallel Talks
For subway workers, discussions between the MTA and the TWU started in late April. TWU leaders were already unhappy with Governor Hochul after she vetoed legislation in December that would have mandated two-person subway crews.
Her rejection allows the MTA to pursue using just one conductor to run a subway train, which the union has long fought against. Reducing subway crews would save the MTA money, but opponents say it’s less safe for transit workers and riders.
As part of the contract discussions with the TWU, the MTA is seeking to increase employee healthcare contributions and make it easier to fire workers — changes the TWU won’t agree to, Samuelsen said.
For every additional percentage point increase, MTA’s annual labor expenses will rise by $100 million, according to Patel. The transit agency is already facing a projected $160 million budget deficit next year that’s set to increase to $306 million in 2029, according to MTA financial documents. That’s on top of the $500 million of savings the agency is required to find annually.
“This is a bottom-line cost exercise for MTA management and balancing a lot of different things and a lot of interests,” said Rachael Fauss, senior policy advisor at Reinvent Albany, which advocates for more transparency and accountability in New York’s governing.
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