Here's what to know as LIRR strike starts the workweek

The first LIRR workers' strike in 30 years forced Long Islanders to use other modes of transportation on Monday, the first workday without the nation’s busiest commuter rail road.

The strike is in its third and arguably most impactful day so far. Shuttle buses brought those who would have otherwise boarded a train west to subway stops in eastern Queens and Brooklyn. While thousands had to show up to work in-person, local employers, particularly those with large bases of office workers, leaned into their remote work capacity to navigate the shutdown.

“The good news today is that a lot of employers listened to the message from the governor and the Long Island Rail Road and implemented remote work for employees that can do that,” said Stacey I. Sikes, acting president and CEO of the Long Island Association business group.

Sikes said the big question for businesses remains: “How long should we expect to be in this situation?”

As the strike continued, Long Islanders were left with lots of questions. Here's what we know:

How will I get to work?

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have asked people to work from home whenever possible.

For the Suffolk and Nassau residents who do need to go in person, the answer to that question is probably slowly.

Long Island already boasts some of the longest commutes in the country, with drivers traveling on average more than a half hour each way on their daily commutes, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Those drives are expected to be much longer for workers commuting along heavily trafficked routes on Monday.

Even on Sunday, with much of the workforce enjoying a day of leisure, traffic delays across Nassau and western Suffolk counties were reported as moderate to heavy, according to Google tracking services.

What if I usually take a train to NYC?

A shuttle bus service being offered by the MTA from select LIRR stations will provide access to Queens subway stops, but there are several caveats.

The shuttle buses are operating for just 8 1/2 hours per day, from 4:30 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. And they’re not at every station, nor do they all travel both directions off-peak.

Nassau commuters can board the service at Lakeview, Hicksville and Mineola, with the buses dropping them off at the Howard-Beach-JFK Airport station, where they can board the A train.

Suffolk riders can access the Howard Beach station with bus transportation from the Bay Shore LIRR station. Shuttles also will operate from the Huntington and Ronkonkoma LIRR stations to the Jamaica-179 St. stop at Hillside Avenue for the F train.

The shuttle service from Suffolk County will run into and out of the city for each commute. The Nassau stops, however, will run only in the peak direction, heading toward New York City in the morning and back to Long Island in the evening.

Peak shuttles will run every 10 minutes, the MTA announced. The shuttle buses will be free.

Are there other buses I can take?

Nassau commuters do have a second alternative as the county’s NICE bus system will run to and from LIRR stations to five locations in Queens during both rush hours. The system’s buses will take commuters from the Great Neck, Glen Cove, Port Washington, Hicksville and Mineola stations to subway stops in either Jamaica or Flushing. The NICE website lists more specific details and additional options that require some more maneuvering from elsewhere in Nassau County.

NICE service is $3 each way.

Won't the subways be overwhelmed?

Demetrius Crichlow, president of NYC Transit, said at a news conference Sunday that the subway system can “take any influx of customers that are here.”

“We may see higher ridership in places where we’ve scheduled shuttle service, or places throughout the five boroughs that are natural places for customers that would get normal drop-off,” he said of Jamaica and Flushing. “We have plenty of subway lines. The reality is that any of the lines, like the 7, the A, the E, the F, the J, the Z — each of them have plenty of capacity to take on additional ridership.”

What is at issue in the labor dispute?

The five striking unions, which last saw a pay increase in 2022, have agreed with the MTA on a retroactive wage increase for 2023-25 of 3% in each of the first two years and 3.5% in the third year — which several other MTA transit unions have accepted. The disagreement is over pay for 2026, with the unions asking for a 5% raise and the MTA countering with lower amounts.

One solution that was floated to increase the pay was for new hires to contribute more than the current 2% of base pay toward health insurance. But the unions called the MTA proposal “unacceptable." The unions also have rejected being paid a portion of the fourth year of raises as a one-time lump sum, and an offer from the MTA to increase pay in exchange for changing contractual work rules, which the MTA says are costly.

What are unions' arguments?

LIRR labor leaders argue they need the raises because of the high and rising cost of living in New York, and also cite raises — as much as 7% — given at other railroads across the country in recent years.

What's the MTA's position?

The MTA says the striking LIRR workers are already the highest paid in the nation, making on average $136,000 a year. MTA officials also pointed out the rest of the MTA’s 50,000-member workforce would expect similar raises. That could mean doubling the size of the MTA’s next scheduled fare increase in 2027 from 4% to 8%, raising taxes, laying off workers or cutting service.

Have LIRR workers gone on strike before?

Yes. The last time was in 1994, a strike that began on a Friday and ended that same weekend.

Money had been the key sticking point in the contract talks then as well. The railroad offered a 9.2% pay raise over four years and four months; the union, which had been without a contract since 1992 and a raise since 1990, wanted 17% over four years, Newsday reported on the eve of the labor stoppage. The two sides settled on an 8.7% pay increase over three years, which both sides characterized as a union win.

The previous LIRR walkout lasted 11 days in 1987 and was settled during a 60-day cooling-off period.

How was weekday traffic impacted the last time?

Commuters fared surprisingly well on the roads, Newsday reported in 1994. Because it was a Friday in June, many workers chose to stay home, according to Newsday.

Buses that were set up to run from Long Island to Queens subway stops saw just 4,700 riders, about half of what was expected, the MTA told Newsday at the time.

What if the current strike continues?

The next big travel concern will be getting through Memorial Day weekend. The MTA typically reports as many as 8,000 LIRR riders travel from New York City to the Montauk branch for the unofficial start of summer each year.

The Knicks also will host the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals this week; trains to Penn Station have been the preferred way to travel for most Long Island residents.

Newsday's Victor Ocasio and Candice Ferrette contributed to this story.