From today’s AP News:
Trains are rolling again on the Long Island Rail Road after a deal was reached to end a strike that had shut down the busiest commuter rail system in the U.S.
The first trains departed from New York City’s two main rail hubs, Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal, shortly after noon Tuesday. Full service was planned in time for the evening rush home from work.
Michele Forrester, who relies on the LIRR to get to her job at a grocery on Long Island, was among the riders with mixed feelings about the apparent resolution to the system’s first walkout since a two-day strike in 1994.
“I just feel like it should not have gotten to this point in the first place,” she said Tuesday afternoon as she waited at the LIRR hub in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens. “With how much they make, it feels like other people are struggling to get by, and they’re talking about getting more money.”
Labor union leaders, meanwhile, began briefing rank-and-file members about the contract terms, said Jamie Horwitz, a spokesperson for the five unions. Voting was expected to take place over the coming days according to each union’s contract ratification process.
Five labor unions representing about half the train system’s workforce went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, halting service for roughly 250,000 commuters who use the rail system that connects New York City to its eastern suburbs every weekday.
Read the complete story here.