MTA, union return to bargaining table but fail to reach agreement on avoiding LIRR strike
Less than two weeks out from a potential Long Island Rail Road union strike, MTA managers and LIRR labor leaders failed to reach a settlement as they returned to the bargaining table Monday, union officials said.
But for a brief, impromptu conference during a Metropolitan Transportation Authority board meeting Wednesday, it was just the second meeting this year between MTA managers and representatives from the five labor organizations representing around half of the LIRR’s 7,000 union workers.
The unions have threatened to go on strike beginning May 16 if they cannot come to a settlement in a three-year-long labor dispute with the MTA. The unions, which represent locomotive engineers, electricians, machinists, signal inspectors and ticket clerks, want a four-year deal with raises totaling 14.5%.
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The unions on Monday also announced plans for a Saturday rally in Massapequa that they’ve called "a day of action to protest MTA/LIRR inaction."