'COMPLETELY NOT TRUE': Union president PUSHES BACK on MTA over strike offer claims

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]Right now, let's get to the story of the moment in terms of the strike underway.

[00:00:06]Talks are resuming this morning between the MTA and five striking unions after federal mediators stepped in over the weekend. Passengers traveling to and from Long Island, New York are stuck facing serious headaches this morning.

[00:00:21]The Long Island Railroad workers are on strike following tense contract negotiations between union leaders and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, MTA. Nearly 300,000 passengers stranded. As a result of that, Governor Kathy Hokll urging remote work right now. MTA Chairman Jano Liieber fully blaming the unions, saying, quote, "Our last offer literally gave them everything they said they wanted in terms of pay, but they rejected even that." For me, it's become apparent that these unions always intended to strike. Their strategy is to inconvenience Long Islanders and to try to force the MTA and the state to do a bad deal. Joining me now is the president of the Transport Workers Union, International President John Samuelson. John, great to have you.

[00:01:06]Welcome. Thanks so much for being here.

[00:01:08]What is your response? You just heard uh what the others are saying about the offer that was given to the unions, >> right? So, it's completely not true.

[00:01:18]General Lee is actually lying about that. There has not been an offer that has given the Long Railroad unions everything they want or everything that the other workers at the MTA want them to get. So, what we have is a situation where the governor of New York State, Kathy Hokll, and her appointed chair of the MTA have rejected two federal panels that gave recommendations. They rejected two. This is a completely avoidable strike. It should have never happened.

[00:01:44]It's it's three years going now. and the MTA should have come to an agreement and just averted this strike.

[00:01:50]>> Well, I mean, this is the first LIR strike in more than 30 years, uh, disrupting hundreds of thousands of communers. What is it going to take to get things moving again? What do the unions want?

[00:02:03]>> So, the the unions want a wage increase that's reflective of what two bipartisan panels appointed by the federal government recommended. So, and that has now been rejected by the governor of New York State. And that's why we're on strike. When they come up with a wage offer that gets close to what these federal panels recommended, then I'm sure the unions will settle. But, and by the way, these demands are not outrageous. The demands are perfectly in line with inflation. In fact, inflation today 3.8%. The wages over the life of a 4-year contract are 3.6% that the workers are demanding. It's these are not unreasonable demands and they should have been settled. There should be no strike right now. Now, the unions are saying that they're demanding a 14.5% total wage increase over four years, right? So that you're talking 14 and a.5% over four years. Is that right?

[00:02:54]>> Yeah, that's right.

[00:02:56]>> Mhm. Yeah.

[00:02:57]>> Yeah. So 14% over three years. They're not outrageous demands. They don't exceed inflation. They're just right about at inflation. You know, Crane's New York business did a story about a year ago or a year and a half ago to say that $100,000 a year in in income in New York City or in New York State, downstate New York, is worth $36,000.

[00:03:17]So, the New York Post today had a headline about how workers make over $100,000. It's the equivalent of $36,000 elsewhere in the country. These are not outrageous demands. The contract should have been settled and uh it's all on Governor Hokll. Now, Hokll says that you these workers are already the the highest paid railroad workers in America. What do you want to say to Kathy Hokll who's saying you're already incredibly highly paid?

[00:03:44]>> So, the route, first of all, the cost of living in New York State is outrageous and it's off the charts.

[00:03:49]>> Good point. You're absolutely right.

[00:03:50]>> Tra New York 36 grand. 100 grand. If you make 100, it's like 36 grand. So, that's that's a non-argument by Kathy Hokll's, you know, point. Her point is irrelevant. The workers themselves are making fair demands. They're not outrageous demands and the contract should be settled and the strike should end.

[00:04:08]>> Now, John, everybody wants the strike to end, obviously, but there's another work rule fight that's sort of simmering beneath the actual 14.5% increase you want over four years. Management wants changes to overtime and changes to staffing rules. Unions say those protections are non-negotiable. Are those things off the table? So, I'm not bargaining in this contract. These are not these are these unions are bargaining unto themselves. So, the Transport Workers Union represents New York City transit workers and workers at Metro North. But, it's my understanding that those demands aren't even being negotiated right now at all by the MTA.

[00:04:44]What's being negotiated is that final year that you referenced before and what that wage increase will be in the final year. Well, I'll tell you. I mean, you know, the headline here seems to be that when you look at technically speaking, you're only about 1% away from each other, right? I mean, you should be get you should be able to get this done since you're talking about one percentage point in wages. Uh depending on on what you're talking about here, but you know, you the unions used a very important date to start striking right before Memorial Day. That's putting a lot of people in bad shape right now.

[00:05:18]Was that intentional? Well, the unions gave the MTA in New York State a gift actually of going on strike on Friday night rather than on Monday morning. So, that was two days that Hokll had to clean up the mess that she made and she should have done it.

[00:05:33]>> John, real quick, do you think this ends soon?

[00:05:37]>> I do. I do believe it'll end soon. As you noted, they're very close. They're probably less than a point apart right now. And it's going to take Hokll and her appointees and her hitman lawyer at the MTA to actually come close to what the federal recommendations are and they'll settle.

[00:05:53]>> Do you want to see a new governor in place post November?

[00:05:56]>> Yeah, absolutely. Kathy Hokll is the most anti-trade union Democrat I've ever seen in my life.

[00:06:01]>> John, great to have you this morning.

[00:06:02]We're going to be watching this fight.

[00:06:03]John Samuelson.