WASHINGTON — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Friday it would not accept the recommendations of a Presidential Emergency Board appointed to address the dispute between the Long Island Rail Road and five unions.
The unions, meanwhile, hailed the recommendations issued earlier in the day, which called for raises totaling 14% (uncompounded) over four years, retroactive to 2023, as well as a $3,000 lump-sum payment.
WPIX-TV reports the mediators appointed by President Donald Trump recommended raises of 3% in 2023 and 2024, 3.5% this year, and 4.5% in 2025. The board’s findings have not been posted on the National Mediation Board site that usually carries PEB reports, possibly because of the shutdown of the federal government.
The five unions involved — 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 — represent almost half of the LIRR’s unionized work force. They are seeking raises in line with those received by other transit and passenger operators, while the MTA wants them to accept the raises of 9.5% over three years accepted by the LIRR’s other unions.
Kevin Sexton, national vice president of the BLET and a spokesman for the union coalition, called the board’s report “a step in the right direction,” although he said the unions did not agree with everything the board had to say.
“Let’s use this report as guidance, get back to the bargaining table and agree to a fair settlement,” Sexton said in a statement reported by Newsday in a paywalled article.
The MTA said in a statement that it was “disappointed but not surprised” by the recommendations. “We do not accept them,” it added.
The non-binding recommendations follow the appointment of the board in a Sept. 16 executive order. That appointment was at the request of the unions — an unusual course of action, as the general chairman of the IBEW’s Long Island chapter noted at the time.
The recommendations on Friday met the requirement that the board issue a report within 30 days of its formation on Sept. 18. The board’s appointment guaranteed under the Railway Labor Act that no strike or lockout could occur for 120 days. At the end of that time, if the matter has not been settled, a second board can repeat the process; only 120 days after that board is established would a strike or lockout become possible.
