Transit News: LIRR Strike Update

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Brian Lehrer** (0:27)
It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good Monday morning, everyone. Let's talk about this Long Island Railroad strike, making it not a good Monday morning for a lot of people. We're told that negotiations have resumed this morning, just a little while ago, so we'll take a closer look than you might get in the headlines about what the issues are. Also, with some of the underlying structural things. Have you wondered about these? Like, why does the LIRR have five separate unions? Why is just this branch of the MTA on strike? Do Metro North or New York City bus and subway workers all have different pay and work rules? They're all MTA employees. The MTA runs all of those.
Here's one way the Long Island Railroad strike is becoming an election year issue. Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, who was also the Nassau County Executive, so this is local to him, is calling on Governor Hokel to suspend the congestion pricing toll to drive into Midtown while the strike is going on. For a little relief, he says, for the people who do generally choose public transportation but don't have that option during the strike, the governor says that's beyond her powers under the law.
Our transportation editor Clayton Guse is with us and we'll check in with transportation reporter Stephen Nessen, who is at one usually very busy Long Island Railroad hub, which is busy in a different way this morning. Hey Clayton, I know you're covering this around the clock right now, so thanks for giving us some time on the show, hi.

**Clayton Guse** (1:50)
Yeah, hey Brian, how you doing?

**Brian Lehrer** (1:51)
And listeners, we can take some different threads of calls or texts from you. First of all, any striking workers listening right now, want to call in and explain to the public why you think this is in their interest or worth their inconvenience right now? Striking workers, you're invited, make your case, 212-433-WNYC, call or text 212-433-9692.
Anyone who usually uses the Long Island Railroad, but can't right now, you're invited too. Tell us how you're compensating. Are you working from home? And that's why you're available to call in. Are you stuck in your car and extra heavy traffic somewhere? And that's why you're available to listen, because you can't work from home and maybe the shuttle buses don't go where you need them to.
What do you think of the strike? Or give us a real-time traffic report. You can do that too from the LIE, or the Northern or Southern state, or wherever you are. 212-433-WNYC-433-9692. Or anyone with a comment or a question about the Long Island Railroad strike, an opinion or a question about something you'd like to better understand. 212-433-WNYC-433-9692. So Clayton, what's the latest on negotiations? Are they happening and if so, where?

**Clayton Guse** (3:12)
Yeah, they're back at the table this morning at 2 Broadway. That's downtown, that's MTA headquarters. You know, on late Friday night, or they had for weeks and months telegraphed this, you know, March or May 16th deadline, right at midnight. They walk out of negotiations at 2 Broadway. The strike was on. They've been at bed, you know, they and on Saturday and Sunday, they were saying they, you know, there was back and forth as to when they were going to go back to the table. There's been some talks over the weekends, but these five unions are back at the table with the MTA this morning. And they're really, from what we understand, the big hang up right now is just kind of about less than a percentage point, maybe a percentage point, in how much they're going to get a raise in the fourth year of the fourth year contract.
Part of this context too is that they haven't had a contract for almost three years. So they're looking for a four-year contract. They'll kind of expire next year. Once this is settled, these workers are going to get a tremendous amount of retroactive pay. But they're really hung up on this last year, how much they're going to get a raise.
The unions were previously asking for a 5% raise during that fourth year of the deal. Now, they've come down a little bit. That's what we know, but a lot of this is private negotiating behind closed doors, dark, smoky rooms.

**Brian Lehrer** (4:25)