Gov. Kathy Hochul<\/a> has urged LIRR riders to work from home, if possible, as the free shuttles are meant for essential workers and those who cannot telecommute. The Democrat, months earlier, slammed the LIRR unions for \u201cgreedy asks\u201d that threaten to \u201cdestabilize the local economy.\u201d<\/p>\nBut there have been signs of progress in negotiations this week.<\/p>\n
Months ago, the MTA had proposed to the unions a 9.5% wage increase over three years, in line with what the system\u2019s other unionized workers have already agreed to. The unions, however, held out for another yearly salary increase of 6.5%, for a total raise of 16% over four years.<\/p>\n
But following Wednesday\u2019s closed door meetings, Gary Dellaverson, the MTA\u2019s chief negotiator, said the agency offered the unions what it said would effectively amount to a 4.5% raise in the fourth year of the contract. That offer, he said, was in line with what federal officials had recommended and would come in the form of lump sum payments rather than wage increases, as the union sought. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe difference between those two positions is not unbridgeable,\u201d Dellaverson said in a news conference. \u201cIt is describable simply in terms of money. There are no longer any complexities involved with the parties.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin Sexton, a spokesperson for the unions, acknowledged Wednesday that there was \u201cpositive movement\u201d toward a settlement but dismissed the notion that a deal was close as \u201cfar-fetched.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe would like to reach an agreement that reflects the rising cost of living,\u201d he said. \u201cAnything short of that amounts to a cut in real wages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spokespersons for MTA didn\u2019t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Thursday, but the union said the two sides were expected to continue talks later that night and reconvene Friday if there was still no deal.<\/p>\n
Susanne Alberto, a personal trainer from Long Island, said she\u2019s already made plans with her Manhattan clients to hold virtual sessions in the event of a shutdown.<\/p>\n
She said the union likely has the upper hand, even if she believes raises should be based on job responsibilities and not made across the board. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe MTA is going to cave, and they know that,\u201d Alberto said. \u201cWhy don\u2019t they just do it now instead of waiting until virtually millions of people get inconvenienced?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rob Udle, an electrician who takes the LIRR at least five days a week, said he\u2019ll likely use his vacation days rather than navigate the \u201cnightmare\u201d of commuting into Manhattan if the rail service shuts down.<\/p>\n
A union member, he sympathized with the unions\u2019 affordability concerns, but said he didn\u2019t agree with their strongarm tactics. <\/p>\n
\u201cI get it, the cost of living is going up and stuff like that,\u201d Udle said while waiting at Penn Station for a train home. \u201cBut they shouldn\u2019t hold everybody hostage to do it. There\u2019s a better way. You\u2019re affecting a lot of other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
The first reference to the rail system has been updated to correct to Long Island Rail Road, from Long Island Railroad.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Follow Philip Marcelo at https:\/\/x.com\/philmarcelo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK — North America\u2019s largest commuter rail system is facing a potential shutdown as a deadline nears…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":798501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,64,57,606,24963,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,1607,522,61,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-798500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-general-news","11":"tag-labor","12":"tag-labor-unions","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-strikes","21":"tag-transportation","22":"tag-u-s-news","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-of-america","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116579390182025378","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}