What Changed Since Yesterday

Sunday brought movement — but not a deal.

Gov. Kathy Hochul held a Sunday news conference and invited the unions back to negotiations. "This is my official invitation. We didn't want you to leave. You left. You're welcome to come back. I'll provide refreshments, whatever you like. Just c'mon back," she said, according to PBS News.

Hours later, the National Mediation Board stepped in. A union spokesperson confirmed to THE CITY that the Board summoned all parties to a Manhattan meeting to resume bargaining.

Kevin Sexton, national vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said Saturday that no new negotiations were scheduled and that the two sides are "truly so far apart."

Monday Morning Is Going to Be a Mess

More than 3,500 LIRR workers are entering day three off the job. About 300,000 commuters are on their own.

The MTA is deploying free shuttle buses starting at 4:30 a.m. Monday for peak-hour service. According to THE CITY, the routes include:

• Huntington and Ronkonkoma stations → F train at Jamaica-179 Street
• Bay Shore, Hempstead Lake State Park, Hicksville, and Mineola → A train at Howard Beach-JFK Airport
• $6 parking at Citi Field, with a transfer to the 7 train at Mets-Willets Point

Service runs inbound from 4:30–9 a.m. and outbound from 3–7 p.m. If you're not an "essential worker" commuting in those windows, you're on your own.

Hochul was blunt about the limits: "Now everyone knows, these alternatives are not business as usual."

The LIRR carries 300,000 people daily. A few shuttle buses from select stations cannot replace that capacity. Officials are urging remote work for everyone who can manage it.

What Both Sides Are Saying

MTA Chair Janno Lieber told The Guardian that the agency "gave the union everything they said they wanted in terms of pay" and claims the unions always intended to walk.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Transportation Communications Union fired back Sunday, saying in a statement per PBS News that workers "are not asking for special treatment — they are simply fighting to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living in the New York region after years without a raise."

One side says they gave workers everything. The other side says they've gone years without a raise. The dispute hinges on the actual contract numbers — the specific salary percentages, the exact healthcare premium increases being proposed. Those figures aren't being reported clearly.

Hochul Is Getting Hit From the Right

Fox News highlighted Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, blaming Hochul directly for what he called a "lack of leadership."

Hochul is the governor of New York. The MTA is a state agency. This strike — the first in 30 years — happened on her watch. She now says "I did not want a strike," but the situation reached a breaking point under her administration's oversight.

She also made a notable admission Sunday: "Just three days of a strike would erase every dollar of additional salary that workers would receive under a new contract," according to The Guardian. If true, workers are striking themselves into a financial hole after just 72 hours — either a powerful argument to return to the table or an indication the MTA's offer was insufficient from the start.

The Coming Week

Talks are resuming. The National Mediation Board is now formally involved. But Monday's commute will be brutal — a patchwork of shuttle buses, $6 parking lots, and subway platforms trying to absorb a quarter-million extra riders.

Every day this drags on, Long Island's economy takes a direct hit. Every day workers stay out, they lose money they cannot recover. The clock is running.