The Long Island Rail Road shut down service early Saturday after five railroad unions went on strike following the expiration of a federally mandated cooling-off period.
The strike affects unions representing signalmen, electricians, clerks, machinists and locomotive engineers, impacting thousands of workers and disrupting travel for nearly 300,000 daily riders.
Glen Head station is one stop on the Oyster Bay line. Roslyn resident Eric Hirshberger, an engineer, said he takes the LIRR from different stations, one of which is Glen Head, into New York City for work four to five days a week.
"My hope is to find a to find a place near a subway station that I can
park, so I don't have to drive all the way into the city," he said of his plans for getting to work. "But I'm afraid everybody else is having the same idea."
Negotiations continued through the week up to the deadline, but the two sides were unable to reach an agreement on wages and contract terms.
The last Long Island Rail Road strike occurred on June 17, 1994, lasting for two days before a contract settlement was reached. Another strike was narrowly avoided in 2014.
The contract dispute centered largely on wage increases and the structure of compensation. A Presidential Emergency Board recommended a 4.5 percent wage increase for a one-year contract extension, while the MTA proposed a 3 percent across-the-board raise supplemented by lump-sum payments. Union leaders argued the lump sums would not permanently increase workers’ base salaries and continued pushing for higher recurring wage increases.
Glen Cove resident Shenel Etherige, who commutes four days a week from the Glen Street station to her job with the New York City Department of Design and Construction, said the strike has created uncertainty for working parents trying to balance commuting and childcare. Etherige said she was still waiting for guidance on whether city employees affected by the strike would be permitted to work remotely. Driving into the city, she explained, would significantly increase her commute time and make it difficult to pick up her 9-year-old daughter from her after-school program at Landing School before its 6 p.m. closing time. “It would literally be me racing against the clock trying to make sure that I’m here before her let-out time,” she said. Despite the disruption, Etherige said she supports railroad workers seeking higher pay. “The cost of everything is going up, so why shouldn’t they have a salary and a pay that reflects that?”
In response to the shutdown, the MTA activated its contingency plan, which includes limited weekday shuttle bus service for essential workers and commuters unable to work remotely.
Shuttle buses are operating during peak commuting hours between six Long Island locations — Bay Shore, Hempstead Lake State Park near the Lakeview train station, Hicksville, Huntington, Mineola and Ronkonkoma — and subway connection points in Queens, including the Howard Beach-JFK Airport A train station and the Jamaica-179 Street F train station.
The MTA also encouraged commuters to work remotely if possible and warned travelers to expect significant congestion and delays on roads and transit systems throughout the region.
Hirschberger said he can only work remotely two to three days a week. He added that driving would add significant time to his commute, especially on the way home, because of traffic.
"I try to get home early," Hirschberger said, "to spend time with my kids before they go to sleep."
Nassau County riders were urged to consider NICE Bus service as an alternative connection to subway stations in Queens.
The shutdown may also affect local businesses. Becca Williams, bookseller at Theodore's Books in Oyster Bay, said people take the train into the hamlet for activities.
"They want somewhere to walk around, or it's tourist season, people want to go walk around, see the Theodore Roosevelt stuff," she said. "And we have a lot of Theodore Roosevelt stuff here, so a lot of people like to come stop on their way, so we have definitely a concern."
The Gold Coast Book Fair is taking place this weekend in Oyster Bay, and Williams explained that the shutdown may lead to difficulties.
"There's authors that live in the city, there are a lot of people that we have come out, just regular customers on the weekend come in from Brooklyn and Queens," she said. "So we're definitely nervous about foot traffic for the fair, or just the ease of authors being able to come out."
This story will be updated as needed.
Will Sheeline and Roksana Amid also contributed to this story.
