WASHINGTON — The Long Island Rail Road could face a strike by or lockout of five unions as soon as Sept. 18 after the National Mediation board announced it had released the commuter operator and those unions from mediation required by the Railway Labor Act.
The unions involved are the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Transportation Communications Union. They represent almost half of the LIRR’s unionized work force.
The decision, made Monday, Aug. 18, set in motion a 30-day cooling-off period beginning today (Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025).
A potential strike or lockout could be pushed back if either side asks the Trump administration to appoint a Presidential Emergency Board, which would consider the positions of the two sides and make a non-binding recommendation for a contract settlement. If either side rejects that recommendation, the process could be repeated by a second Presidential Emergency Board before a strike or lockout became possible.
That lengthy process played out last year in just that fashion during the dispute between NJ Transit and BLET members. With the 30-day cooling-off period following the end of mediation set to expire on July 24, 2024, NJ Transit asked the Biden administration to form a Presidential Emergency Board. [See “NJ Transit seeks Presidential Emergency Board …,” Trains.com, July 24, 2024].
Between the government’s 30-day period to consider the request, the 120-day for the PEB to investigate the dispute and offer its recommendation, subsequent steps in the process, and a repeat with a second Presidential Emergency Board, it was almost 10 months before the dispute reached the “self-help” stage, where a job action is permitted; engineers walked out in May of this year [see “Strike shuts down NJ Transit rail service,” Trains.com, May 16, 2025]. The two sides reached a tentative agreement two days later that was eventually ratified by both parties [see “NJ Transit ratifies new deal …,” Trains.com, July 18, 2025.]
Janno Lieber, CEO of the LIRR’s parent, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, told Newsday prior to the Mediation Board announcement that it was premature to comment on whether the MTA would request Trump administration intervention, but that any decision would be made jointly with Gov. Kathy Hochul. Any request from the MTA and Hochul would be somewhat incongruous given the ongoing battles between the transit agency and the administration on other fronts, mostly notably New York’s congestion price program to fund MTA capital projects.
Lieber also told Newsday in the paywalled article that the unions involved benefit from “abusive work rules” that boost their wages. The unions said they were seeking “modest wage increases” that would secure “a fair contract.” The LIRR’s other unions have accepted contracts with 9.5% wage increases over three years, but the five unions still involved in negotiations are seeking raises more in line with those received by workers at other transit and passenger operators.
