The Sheet Metal, Air and Transportation Union members working for the Long Island Rail Road voted Wednesday, 500 to 0, to strike unless demands for wage increases are met. The union claims to know that the MTA, who represents the LIRR, can raise wages without raising fares, but the MTA said that it would need other concessions from the union. The MTA Chairman, Thomas Prendergast, has said that archaic work rules make giving raises even more difficult because it is harder to find efficiencies to offset the costs. A panel appointed by President Obama in December advised that raises be given, but that workers pay more into their health insurance. If a second emergency panel is appointed, it would delay a strike until July.
See "LIRR union votes to OK March Strike", Rebecca Harshbarger, New York Post, February 6, 2014