Hochul urges Long Island Republican reps to weigh in as rail strike looms

Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News on Sep 11, 2025

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Gov. Kathy Hochul is asking Long Island’s Republican congressional delegation to speak up about a looming possible Long Island Rail Road strike as the MTA braces for possible labor action on the nation’s busiest commuter railroad.

“A strike that paralyzes the nation’s busiest commuter railroad is not a partisan issue,” Hochul wrote Wednesday in a letter to GOP Reps Andrew Garbarino and Nick LaLota, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily News. “It is your responsibility to stand up for you constituents and demand a fair, immediate resolution.”

Five LIRR unions representing some 1,300 workers — the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen, the International Association of Machinists, the International Brotherhood of Eletrical Workers, and the Transportation Communications Union — have all rejected a proposed contract that would give their members a 9.58% raise over three years, citing increasing cost of living.

The LIRR’s largest union — the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) — has accepted the deal.

Under Federal Railroad Administration rules, unions must submit to mediation by the National Mediation Board before they can legally strike. If the board determines no resolution can be reached, then unions are released from that requirement and — pending a 30-day “cooling-off period” — can strike.

The Trump administration released the unions from their mediation requirements in August, meaning they can strike as early as Sept. 18 — next week.

In Wednesday’s letter, Hochul called that decision “premature.”

“Last month, the Trump administration took the unprecedented step of prematurely releasing parties from mediation without the parties reaching an agreement,” she wrote.

“To date,” she said, addressing Long Island’s Republican Congress members, “you have been silent on the Administration’s actions, which threaten to cause havoc for the hundreds of thousands of your constituents that depend on the LIRR every day.”

Neither Garbarino nor LaLota immediately responded to a request for comment on the letter Thursday.

Hochul, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority or the unions can call on Trump to appoint a “Presidential Emergency Board” of mediators who would oversee further contract talks, a process that could take up to six months.

The recent strike by NJ Transit engineers took place after two Presidential Emergency Boards had been formed.

Asked Wednesday if she would seek federal intervention, Hochul placed blame for the situation squarely on the president.

“The White House already intervened, and they screwed us in the process,” she said. “They never should have given license to stop the negotiations.”

“I want people back at the table. I want the conversations to occur in a meaningful, productive way,” she added. “But if the worst scenario occurs, I want this entire community to know that this was initiated by the Trump White House.

“They could have stopped it — they still can withdraw the authorization (to strike),” she said.

LIRR workers have not gone out on strike since 1994. A possible 2014 strike was narrowly averted.