Hochul Argle Bargle Gargle: Trump’s Responsible for the Long Island Railroad Workers Strike

This woman seethes cope.

SEETHES it.

She doesn’t have anything else.

As of this weekend, railroad workers on the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) are talking about walking out.

This happening would be what’s known as a ‘BFD‘ in POTATUS parlance. The LIRR is the commuter line that brings tons and tons of folks off Long Island into the city every single hour of every day.

Emphasis on the ‘tons.’ 

…The LIRR is the country’s busiest commuter railroad. New York state officials have for decades pointed out how essential it is for Nassau and Suffolk counties’ nearly 3 million residents.

A 1965 report on the planned purchase of the LIRR by New York under then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller noted the railroad carries as many as 50,000 people during a single hour each morning.

“To duplicate this movement by automobile on limited access highways would require 26 lanes going in one direction,” the report said. “This would mean the building of five more Long Island Expressways and several more Queens-Midtown Tunnels.”

The last time the LIRR shut down for a labor strike was in 1994. It lasted for two days.

That 50,000 was a 1965 survey. I can’t imagine now. Estimates are as high as 300,000 regular daily commuters when you strip out folks going in for other reasons.

The leaders of the five rail unions involved and the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) had been in a 40-day cooling-off period – I guess negotiations over this contract have been a bit spicy – but they came back to the bargaining table at the end of April.

A few things have managed to be hammered out, like retroactive wage settlements when the union wants pay raises and such, but judging by the language, they are still far apart and sniping at each other.

Long Island Rail Road union leaders and Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials finally returned to the bargaining table Wednesday after 40 days, but the session still ended with no deal in sight.

With less than three weeks until workers can legally walk off the job, leaders of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and four other labor unions appeared at an MTA board meeting and accused the agency of dodging talks toward the long-running contract dispute for weeks.

“The clock is ticking,” fumed Gilman Lang, general chairman of the engineers’ union.

Lang told the board the five unions involved in the dispute, representing around 3,500 LIRR workers, were ready to iron out a deal, but the MTA refused to meet with them.

…The two sides clashed after a virtual meeting with the National Mediation Board scheduled for Monday was postponed, which Lieber attributed to scheduling conflicts for the federal mediators.

“I don’t know that to be true,” Lang said after Lieber made his claim.

The dispute covers contracts that became amendable in 2023 and centers on wages and work rules for train workers.

The sides have agreed on raises of 3% in 2023, 3% in 2024 and 3.5% in 2025, but remain apart on the unions request for a 5% pay raise in 2026.

Union leaders say they need higher wages to keep up with inflation.

MTA board finance chair Neal Zuckerman argued the private sector stiffs workers all the time over rising inflation.

“The private sector has not seen wage increases keeping up with inflation for about 20 years,” he said.

Walkout day is 16 May, so…Saturday.

YOICKS

The MTA has made arrangements for its buses to run, which is going to cost an additional $325,000-$500,000 a day to shuttle rail passengers in and out of the city. But they can’t begin to cover the tremendous number of bodies who need to get to work. Literally hundreds of thousands.

Governor Kathy Hochul’s suggestion is just ‘stay home.’

Good one.

A Long Island Rail Road strike could strand nearly 300,000 commuters starting this weekend as five labor unions and MTA leaders are at odds over wage increases for the union workers.

The looming work stoppage could start as early as 12:01 a.m. Saturday as MTA chief Janno Lieber and Gov. Kathy Hochul this week simply advised riders to work from home if workers walk off the job.

“I want to make sure commuters are not inconvenienced and if they have that option [to work from home], they may have to exercise it,” Hochul said Wednesday at an unrelated event at Jones Beach.

As LIRR strike looms, Hochul warns Long Islanders they may have to stay home https://t.co/mdSWSKYhie

— Gothamist (@Gothamist) May 13, 2026

I mean, it’s not exactly Trenitalia commuter service, but when it’s all you’ve got…

Inside a Penn Station bound LIRR train as it began filling with smoke in the East River Tunnel pic.twitter.com/1E9taxixBw

— andfrew (@dahrough) May 14, 2026

…it’s all you’ve got, and you can’t afford to not have it.

BREAKING: LIRR service SUSPENDED in/out Penn Station after a fire in the East River tunnels. ALL LIRR customers are being advised to use Grand Central for the evening rush. Amtrak and NJT trains still running in/out of Penn with delays pic.twitter.com/zn4D1pRezT

— Steven Bognar (@Bogs4NY) May 14, 2026

There are also questions for the governor about the obviously long-running dispute between the unions and the MTA regarding what her plans are if everything shuts down at midnight +1 on the morning of the 16th.

Will you be suspending your outlandish congestion taxation scheme in the event there is a service disruption?

Also, while you are on Long Island, do you care to explain to constituents there why they are subsidizing the structural imbalance in the NYC budget?

— Reza Chowdhury (@RezaC1) May 13, 2026

Her answer should not surprise you.

Somehow, Donald Trump has done this to New York City.

Is there anything Trump cannot do?

In three days, the @LIRR may be shut down by a strike, one that has been needlessly encouraged and accelerated by President Trump.

Nobody wins in a strike: it would hurt both @LIRR commuters and workers who rely on paychecks to support their families.

The MTA has been at the… pic.twitter.com/1jeZG57nkT

— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) May 13, 2026

It would seem not.

Astonished and frankly befuddled New Yorkers, listening to the governor’s argle-bargle, asked Grok, ‘WTF did Trump have to do with the strike?’

Grok is all like, ‘Nuthin’.’

No. The LIRR strike threat on May 16 stems from ongoing contract disputes between the MTA and unions over wages, overtime, and work rules. Unions requested Trump’s Presidential Emergency Board in Sept 2025 to delay an earlier strike, which extended the timeline. The PEB…

— Grok (@grok) May 13, 2026

…The PEB recommended terms favoring unions, but negotiations stalled. This is a state-level labor impasse, not caused by Trump.

Whew, thank God.

I thought we’d all missed something big.

I have to admit, I really liked this one.

Dang lady do you blame Trump when it rains too? I bet if you stubbed your toe getting out of your sarcophagus in the evening you’d come right to X and blame Trump too

— Jonathan Falcon (@JonathanFalcons) May 13, 2026

Anyhoo, this is just another progressive day ending in ‘Y’ as in: 

Y TRUMP DO THIS TO ME?

And if you have to work in the city and live out on the island, I wish you the best of luck. The best would be no strike, but it looks as if all sides have at least a couple of days of piss and vinegar in them… 

…Jamie Horowitz, a spokesperson for the LIRR unions threatening to go on strike, said the two sides held another bargaining session Wednesday morning and each side was reviewing the other’s proposals.

“The coalition of five LIRR unions has said that its 3,500 members who make up a majority of the railroad’s unionized workforce need an agreement that addresses rising inflation and the high cost of living on Long Island,” Kevin Sexton, vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said in a statement.

MTA officials previously said the transit agency would have to increase LIRR fares by 8% next year, cut jobs and reduce service to meet all the union’s demands.

“I’m not willing to ask Long Islanders to pay unnecessary fare hikes or higher taxes,” Hochul said Wednesday.

… before Hochul caves, so there’s probably going to be one.

Remember to bring your laptop and work stuff home tomorrow if you can, just in case. God be with those of you who have to commute in. Take a snack. Could be a while.

And always remember, in the progressive Democrat world, it’s true.

Damn, is there nothing Trump can’t do?
Now he’s making the employees of a NYS “public benefit corporation” go on strike

— Officer Bill 🍌🇮🇱🐕🍸 (@officerbill) May 13, 2026

There’s nothing Trump can’t do.

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