Hot off the heels of Governor Cuomo's statement that he is essentially unable to do anything in the event members of several LIRR labor unions currently under contract negotiations with the MTA walk off the job on July 20th, passing that responsibility off to members of Congress, MTA Chairman and CEO Tom Prendergast made a trip down to Washington D.C. earlier Wednesday to "test the waters" and see what—if anything—Congress would do in the event of a LIRR strike.
Not long after Prendergast ventured into his meeting with several elected officials word broke that Congress does not anticipate doing anything with the ongoing LIRR contract dispute. At this point in time, Congressional leaders are saying they are not likely to intervene to prevent a LIRR strike.
Some have speculated that the Unions have been holding out in the hope of having Congress swoop in, end the strike, and impose the deal recommended by the Presidential Emergency Board last winter; however, Congress' message to the unions today was that the chance of "a quick action by Congress" was "exceptionally low."
Members of Congress demanded that the two sides meet again at the negotiating table, and that this time, the unions present a counteroffer. For the last several negotiation sessions, the unions have not come down one penny from the deal recommended by the Presidential Emergency Board. At least in this point in the game, the unions are being unreasonable and are showing no interest in actually negotiating by demanding the same deal over and over again. While the MTA has begrudgingly and unhappily come up with several alternate proposals, the unions have not wavered one bit from their demands, and it does not appear that they are really making a good faith effort at all at this point.
Anyways, as the clock continues to tick to July 20th, the chances of this dispute being resolved quickly and cleanly grow dimmer by the day. Unless the unions are going to actually go to the negotiating table to negotiate—and not demand the same deal they have been demanding—there is little hope that we will be able to avoid a disruption to LIRR service in just eleven days.
At any rate, it appears that we are still a ways away from seeing this dispute resolved.
You can hear MTA Chairman and CEO Tom Prendergast's press conference following his meeting with congressional officials this morning embedded here:
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