The MTA’s negotiations with unions representing LIRR workers broke down Tuesday afternoon, 12 days before hundreds of thousands of Long Islanders would be left stranded by a strike.
With the walkout looming, MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast penned a letter to US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner asking them to say what role Congress would play if 5,400 workers walk off the job on July 20.
“Over the past several months, the [MTA] has made a number of attempts to settle a labor dispute with unions representing LIRR employees,” Prendergast’s letter reads.
“I strongly believe that a resolution can be reached in a fiscally responsible manner.
“Unfortunately, the union’s leadership has taken the position that the MTA must meet its demands or it will strike, a threat they feel comfortable making because they assume Congress will stop their strike after a few days.
“As a result, the union’s leadership has been unwilling to work constructively with the MTA to come to an agreement.”
Prendergast will travel to Capitol Hill Wednesday to seek further clarification on what Congress would do if a deal can’t be reached.
The shutdown would affect the railroad’s approximately 300,000 daily riders.
“The unions are threatening everyone on Long Island with a traffic nightmare that will paralyze the entire region, rather than negotiating to find a solution that would keep New York functioning,” said MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg.
Last month, a coalition of eight LIRR unions turned down a deal that would have given them a 17 percent wage hike over seven years with no changes to pensions.
Already the highest paid railroad workers in the nation at an average annual salary of $87,000, the offer was far more generous than the 8 percent raises subway and bus workers recently received in their new five-year contract.
The unions say the MTA is shortchanging them.
“The MTA came into meetings today with same proposal as the one they made public and said ‘take it or leave it,’ ” said Anthony Simon, the lead union negotiator.
“[Prendergast] had a letter to Congress out before the meeting ended. We should be settling this on our own without looking to Congress to settle. The MTA is forcing a strike.”