It was on Monday, September 15, after three years without a raise during a period of high inflation, Long Island Rail Road engineers represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) voted (476-5) to authorize a strike. The vote results were announced at a jam-packed news conference in Manhattan.
“What we are seeking is exceedingly reasonable,” BLET General Chairman Gil Lang said in prepared remarks. “Today’s vote reflects the frustration of our members, but it also reflects their unity, their determination, and their belief in fairness. Our proposal seeks only to secure an agreement which provides for a modest improvement of real wages.”
The coalition’s five unions announced at the news conference that they had requested a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB). The unions include:
in addition to BLET, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS), the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and the Transportation Communications Union (TCU). Combined, the coalition represents 55 percent of LIRR’s unionized workforce.
In addition to announcing the results of the BLET strike vote and the request for a PEB, the coalition’s news conference provided an opportunity to combat disinformation by MTA and LIRR officials. The public statements repeatedly misstated the union’s wage demands, proposed length of the agreement, and size of the bargaining unit. The employer, joined by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, also falsely claimed a routine decision by the National Mediation Board to release the parties from mediation was somehow politically motivated. The carrier also repeatedly highlighted outlier salaries in an attempt to publicly shame BLET members and mislead the public about average wages.
The White House announced on September 16 that it would establish a Presidential Emergency Board to investigate the dispute.
