Workers for the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) in New York seemed poised to authorize a strike against the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) after an initial round of mediation failed to resolve the contract dispute, but the MTA has announced it will invoke a second round of compulsory mediation.  LIRR workers are prohibited from legally striking when active mediation is being engaged in.

With the failure of initial mediation attempts, LIRR workers could have legally gone on strike as early as March 21^st.  However, if the MTA invokes a second round of mediation, that strike would be delayed until June 20^th at the earliest.

Fifty-nine of sixty unions representing workers employed by the MTA are currently without contracts.  The initial mediation between the LIRR workers and the MTA resulted in a recommendation by Federal mediators to offer workers a 2.85% pay raise and to require workers to make their first-ever contributions to healthcare costs to the tune of 2% of their pay.  However, the MTA rejected these recommendations, saying the pay raises had to be paid for with work-rule changes.

Some in the unions see the current move as simply a way of pushing off a work action and not a sincere attempt to come to an agreement.  The LIRR is the sole transit line connecting Long Island with Manhattan, and carries about 84 million passengers a year.