{"id":128708,"date":"2025-09-15T16:55:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com\/?p=128708"},"modified":"2025-09-17T13:32:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T17:32:48","slug":"lirr-strike-averted-for-now-after-union-leaders-ask-president-trump-to-step-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com\/2025\/09\/128708\/lirr-strike-averted-for-now-after-union-leaders-ask-president-trump-to-step-in\/","title":{"rendered":"LIRR strike averted \u2014 for now \u2014 after union leaders ask President Trump to step in"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>North Fork riders of the Long Island Rail Road concerned about being derailed by a looming strike can breathe a sigh of relief \u2014 at least for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LIRR union leaders on Monday, Sept. 15, asked the feds to intervene ahead of their threatened work stoppage, which was set to begin Thursday, Sept. 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Union leaders called on President Trump to create an emergency board of mediators, LIRR labor officials said at a hastily-arranged press conference. On Tuesday, Trump agreed to establish the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The move delays the possibility of a strike, which would have impacted nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/suffolktimes.timesreview.com\/2024\/07\/greenport-to-mark-180-years-since-first-lirr-train\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">300,000 daily riders<\/a> until next spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis action does not mean a strike won\u2019t happen,\u201d said Gil Lang, general chairman of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ble-t.org\/about-the-blet\/\">Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen<\/a>, at the news conference. \u201cBut it does mean it won\u2019t happen now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BLET represents roughly 51,500 locomotive engineers, conductors, firemen, switchmen, hostlers and other train service employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The unions are pushing for pay raises of 16% over the next four years, far higher than the 9.5% increase over three years that most other MTA workers already accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere is a fair offer on the table, and I have directed the MTA to be ready to negotiate anytime, anywhere. Unfortunately, five unions have refused to come to the table in good faith and rejected binding arbitration, putting riders at risk of an unnecessary strike,\u201d Gov. Kathy Hochul said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Union officials said Monday they accepted the three-year, 9.5% deal but wanted a fourth year at 6.5%,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsday.com\/long-island\/transportation\/lirr-strike-delayed-twflqqqx\">according to Newsday<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MTA officials slammed union leaders for attempting an end run by turning to the Trump administration for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAfter months of radio silence, these outlier unions have finally admitted that they weren\u2019t serious about negotiating. They never had a plan to resolve this at the bargaining table,\u201d John McCarthy, MTA chief for policy and external relations, said in a statement. \u201cThis cynical delay serves no one.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Fork riders of the Long Island Rail Road concerned about being derailed by a looming strike can breathe a sigh of relief \u2014 at least for now. LIRR union leaders on Monday, Sept. 15, asked the feds to intervene ahead of their threatened work stoppage, which was set to begin Thursday, Sept. 18. Union&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2160,"featured_media":128709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1743,35],"tags":[18090,79,5485,13186,1480],"coauthors":[17931],"class_list":["post-128708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-story","category-news","tag-brotherhood-of-locomotive-engineers-and-trainmen","tag-lirr","tag-lirr-strike","tag-premium","tag-riverhead-lirr"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>LIRR strike averted \u2014 for now \u2014 after union leaders ask President Trump to step in - Riverhead News Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"North Fork Long Island Rail Road riders concerned about getting derailed by a looming strike can breathe a sigh of relief \u2014 at least for now.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com\/2025\/09\/128708\/lirr-strike-averted-for-now-after-union-leaders-ask-president-trump-to-step-in\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LIRR strike averted \u2014 for now \u2014 after union leaders ask President Trump to step in - 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