NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- President Donald Trump set up a special mediation board to prevent a strike on the nation’s largest commuter rail, the Long Island Rail Road.
The White House established a Presidential Emergency Board that will oversee negotiations in a dispute between the LIRR and a coalition of five unions, including the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. The labor groups made the request rather than follow through on their threat to strike as soon as Sept. 18. A shutdown would upset the commutes of about 3 million people who live on Long Island and rely on the rail to get to New York City for work, school and entertainment.
The panel will hold hearings in the next few weeks and present recommendations for a deal in October, Jim Louis, the BLET’s national vice president, said during a press conference Monday where he outlined the timeframe of a potential emergency board prior to Trump’s announcement.
Locomotive engineers for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — which runs New York City’s subways, buses, the LIRR and the Metro-North commuter line — haven’t had a raise since April 2022. While the MTA and the five unions agreed to 9.5% wage increase over three years, they reached an impasse on another 6.5% boost in the fourth year that union officials say is needed to keep up with inflation.
MTA officials have said that anything above the 9.5% raise already in the current contract for subway and bus workers will require changing costly LIRR work rules, including paying an engineer for two days’ work when driving an electric train and diesel train in the same day.
The parties have been in talks since February of last year. Under the emergency board’s process negotiations could extend to May 2026, with the unions allowed to strike at that time.
Governor Kathy Hochul is seeking a faster resolution to avoid a potential strike, either this year or next.
“We don’t want a strike at all,” Hochul said Monday at an event in Albany. “If you look at what this union is asking for in comparison to what other unions have agreed to — and these threats to destabilize the local economy because of their greedy asks — it’s deeply disturbing.”
The board can serve as a way for passenger rail and air carriers to help reach consensus on labor issues when the parties hit a stalemate. The LIRR used the same negotiation process in 2014 amid wage disputes with a group of eight unions. New Jersey Transit’s locomotive engineers — represented by the BLET — had a three-day work stoppage in May after negotiating through the PEB.
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