NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 A potential strike has been averted that could have shut down the nation鈥檚 largest commuter rail system this week.
Unionized workers for the Long Island Railroad announced they voted overwhelmingly Monday to authorize their labor leaders to call a strike if an agreement on a new contract isn鈥檛 reached.
But officials representing locomotive engineers, machinists, signalmen and other train workers said they鈥檝e also asked President Donald Trump to intercede by forming an emergency board that delays the potential for a strike at least for a few more months.
Union leaders said the earliest a strike could happen is in January while the Presidential Emergency Board, once formed, reviews the contract dispute and presents its recommendations.
A strike, which could have happened as early as Thursday under federal rules, would have impacted some 250,000 riders who ride the LIRR to work each day to and from New York City and its eastern suburbs.
A work stoppage would have also thrown a wrench in the , which begins Sept. 26. The three-day men鈥檚 golf tournament between players from the U.S. and Europe is expected to bring 225,000 spectators to Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale on Long Island.
鈥淭his action does not mean a strike won鈥檛 happen, but it does mean it won鈥檛 happen now,鈥 said Gil Lang, general chairman for the union representing LIRR locomotive engineers, at a news conference at the union鈥檚 office in Manhattan on Monday.
鈥淲e will continue to be the adults in the room,鈥 he added. 鈥淎 strike is the last thing we want, and we鈥檒l do everything we can to avoid that.鈥
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the LIRR and other area transit systems, dismissed the union’s announcement as a 鈥渃ynical delay” that “serves no one.”
鈥淚f these unions wanted to put riders first, they would either settle or agree to binding arbitration,” spokesperson John J. McCarthy said in a statement. “And if they don鈥檛 want to strike, they should say so 鈥 and finally show up to the negotiating table.”
The agency and had resisted calling for an emergency board even though they have the power to do so.
Instead, the MTA announced plans last week to provide commuters with free shuttle buses to take them from some LIRR train stations to subway stops in the New York City borough of Queens in the case of a strike.
Hochul, a Democrat, has also blamed the Trump administration in recent days for the prospect of a strike, even as she鈥檚 called on both sides to resume negotiations.
Spokespersons for the White House and the U.S. Department of Transportation didn鈥檛 immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The last LIRR worker strike happened more than three decades ago and lasted about two days in 1994. Workers nearly walked out in 2014 before then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reached a deal with unions.
In this most recent contract dispute, five labor unions representing about half the train system鈥檚 workforce are seeking a 16% raise over four years. The MTA has proposed a 9.5% wage increase over three years.
___
Follow Philip Marcelo at
