As LIRR strike date approaches, Gov. Kathy Hochul won't say if she'll ask White House to intervene

Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is "working hard" to avert a Long Island Rail Road Union strike next week, but would not say whether she will ask for intervention from President Donald Trump, who she accused of giving railroad unions "the authority" to walk off the job.

Meanwhile, one of the unions involved in the contract dispute called on Hochul to order the MTA back to the bargaining table or meet with them to plan for an "orderly shutdown of operations" at the nation’s busiest commuter railroad.

"I’m going to work my damnedest to stop this. I want people back at the table. I want the conversations in a meaningful productive way, because we have more than 300,000 people [per day] who rely on this system," Hochul said at a Grand Central Terminal news conference about subway safety. 

White House officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The LIRR’s first strike in more than three decades could come as soon as Sept. 18, unless the five unions involved in the contract dispute, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or Hochul ask Trump to create a "Presidential Emergency Board," which would force both sides back into federal mediation and avert a work stoppage for several months.

The unions have said they have no intention of asking the White House intervene. On Wednesday, Hochul said "the White House already intervened, and they screwed us in the process."

Hochul said the Trump Administration is to blame for the looming LIRR work stoppage because the National Mediation Board, a federal agency, prematurely released both parties in the contract dispute from mediation — a step that opened the door for a legal strike.

"The President did something rather extraordinary and almost unprecedented, which is to say, ‘OK. Go ahead and do what you want now. Go ahead and strike,’" Hochul said. "That’s unusual and he owns it."

Hochul offered no evidence of Trump being involved in the NMB’s decision.

In a letter to Hochul Tuesday, the heads of the five LIRR unions involved in the dispute said the assertion that Trump was involved in federal mediators’ decision was "simply false."

"The National Mediation Board carefully considered our dispute and rightfully determined that the parties were at impasse," wrote the authors of the letter, who signed it "the Long Island Rail Road Bargaining Coalition."

The labor organizations collectively represent nearly half of the LIRR’s 7,000 union members, including locomotive engineers, ticket clerks, machinists, electricians, and signal workers. They’ve rejected a contract offer — already accepted by the majority of LIRR union workers — for 9.5% in wage increases over three years, an amount they say does not keep up with inflation and is below what other railroads in the U.S. have given their workers.

The MTA has said the unions have demanded 16% in raises. But in their letter to Hochul Wednesday, the union leaders said they have made "significant reductions" in their proposals, and that the difference between the two parties current proposals is "less than one (1) percent per year over the life of the agreement."

MTA external relations and policy chief John McCarthy said Wednesday he was "not aware" of a change in the unions’ demands, but said they are not following the pattern established by the agreements reached with other unions. "They are welcome to come back to the table and negotiate," McCarthy said.

The MTA has said it will begin communicating with LIRR customers in the coming days about its contingency plans in the event of a strike. Those plans will include limited busing between LIRR stations and subway stations in Queens. McCarthy has said the MTA will also reach out to employers in the region to facilitate remote working if the railroad is not running.

The federal Railway Labor Act, which governs railroad collective bargaining, gives Congress broad authority to intervene in disputes, including by extending negotiating periods, imposing contract terms recommended by mediators, or requiring parties to enter into binding arbitration. Hochul in a letter Tuesday called on Long Island's two Republican House members, Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) and Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) to intervene in the contract dispute in a letter sent Tuesday to their offices.

Representatives for LaLota and Garbarino did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Long Island's two Democratic representatives, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) and Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre), also did not respond to requests for comment. 

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.