Lengthy Island Rail Street (LIRR) staff may exit on strike by this time subsequent week.
Some 3,700 LIRR workers –– members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS), Worldwide Affiliation of Machinists and Aerospace Staff (IAMAW), Worldwide Brotherhood of Electrical Staff, and Transportation Communications Union (TCU) –– need cost-of-living raises and are voting on whether or not they need to exit on strike to get them.
The unions are ready for the outcomes of a strike authorization vote by BLET members to find out whether or not to authorize a strike. Outcomes of this vote are anticipated by September 15. If the vast majority of BLET members vote in favor, the strike may start as early as September 18. The strike may solely be halted by the unions, MTA, or Governor Hochul’s request for the Trump administration to nominate a presidential emergency mediation board.
The doubtless putting workers, who make up greater than half of the LIRR’s unionized workforce, are advocating for cost-of-living raises and declare that they haven’t obtained a wage improve since April 16, 2022. Their ongoing contract dispute with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has been in mediation since February 2024, following the TCU’s rejection of a tentative settlement.
In accordance with stories, the MTA supplied the unions a three-year contract with greater than 3 p.c yearly fractional improve that totaled out at 9.5 p.c. Whereas different LIRR unions accepted that provide, these 5 unions rejected it. As a substitute, these unions need a three-year contract with 15% raises — they are saying that may match the agreements secured by rail staff elsewhere within the nation.
“We’re solely asking for a good contract — one that gives modest wage positive factors, or on the very least, maintains actual wages,” Gil Lang, common chair for the BLET’s LIRR engineers, said in a press launch. “Our members wouldn’t ratify something in need of that.”
This battle for a robust contract takes place as railroad unions try to safe the way forward for their members’ jobs, lots of that are being threatened by new applied sciences.
Final month, BLET President Mark Wallace informed members at a western regional assembly that the usage of new, unproven applied sciences is threatening their jobs.
“Know-how is advancing quickly. And the carriers see it as an excuse to chop jobs,” he warned. “Automation. Distant management. One-person crews. All pushed within the title of revenue. However let me be clear: we’re not anti-technology. Know-how can and needs to be used to make railroading safer, extra environment friendly, and extra sustainable. It ought to help the women and men within the cab, not change them.
“We’re not anti-technology. We’re anti-exploitation. When expertise is used responsibly, as a software to assist staff, to scale back dangers, and to guard communities, we welcome it. However when it’s used recklessly, as a weapon to get rid of jobs, to undermine security, or to squeeze extra revenue out of fewer folks, we are going to instantly oppose it with all the things we have now.”
