'Cautiously optimistic': LIRR unions, MTA resume talks on day 3 of strike | Live updates

Nassau County Executive and Republican candidate for governor Bruce Blakeman took aim at Gov. Kathy Hochul during a press conference on Sunday, calling the LIRR strike "a complete failure of leadership" and emphasizing his support for LIRR workers.

"She doesn't look at our workers as though they are participants in government, she looks at them as servants," he said.

Blakeman said he "stands with workers" and urged Governor Hochul to reach a deal quickly to end the strike, which is disrupting travel for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. He also reiterated his opposition to congestion pricing.

"What we have here in New York State is a complete failure of leadership," Blakeman said.

Nassau County Executive and Republican candidate for governor Bruce Blakeman took aim at Gov. Kathy Hochul during a press conference on Sunday.

He noted that this is the first railroad worker strike in three decades, pointing out that both Republican and Democratic administrations had previously maintained labor peace.

"When you look at Kathy Hochul's track record when it comes to labor relations, she is the worst governor in the history of New York State," he said.

Blakeman also referenced past labor disputes, including strikes involving nurses and corrections officers. He criticized the state's response to those situations, including the use of out-of-state nurses and National Guard troops in correctional facilities.

"It's cost taxpayers billions of dollars," he said, while adding that he supports union workers and their leadership.

The county executive argued that the current labor impasse reflects misplaced priorities, contrasting worker negotiations with state spending.

Hochul later responded to Blakeman saying there's no legal mechanism to stop congestion pricing.

"What we're encouraging people to do is stay home. Not to divert this into, you know, a campaign event," she said. "This is serious business. And I want to make sure that people know that we hope to have a very shortened strike. That's our hope. But we were prepared for anything that happens."

MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber spoke with Eyewitness News about the ongoing strike.

Union workers are "on strike against the people who pay the fares. They're on strike against the people who pay taxes, because the consequence of giving them a special deal better than every other MTA worker, that's what they're asking for, is to push fares up and to enforce a tax increase," Lieber claimed.

Lieber also pushed back against the idea that a disagreement over health insurance had prompted the strike, calling it "complete nonsense."

The rail worker's union "rejected every single idea that we put on the table, and there were many," Lieber said.

"We suggested that that that in the future -- not the union workers today, but future hires actually -- pay a little more realistic level of health contribution. These unions are getting their health care at a tiny fraction of what regular New Yorkers pay ... So we said, let's move up the health contributions a little bit for future hires at the Long Island Railroad. They rejected even that ... We propose that they pay 10% of the cost of the health care program that they're receiving in the private sector."

As for the plight of commuters, Lieber said the best bet was for people to work remotely.

"Long Islanders during Covid, more than 95% of them did telework, so most Long Islanders do have experience with telework. And I think a lot of people are going to take advantage of that of that option," he said.

As for resuming service when the strike ends, Lieber said it may take some time.

"It's going to take, you know, a few hours, more than a few hours to get the whole system back on schedule," he said.

Union workers are striking after their demands were not met.

Union workers return to the picket lines on Sunday, but there is still no word on when negotiations between labor leaders and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will resume.

For the region's roughly 300,000 daily Long Island Rail Road riders, the disruption continues. Train service remains suspended following a strike that began early Saturday, bringing the nation's busiest commuter rail system to a standstill.

Approximately 3,500 union workers - about half of the LIRR workforce - walked off the job, marking the railroad's first strike in more than three decades. The labor action follows three years of unsuccessful contract negotiations, two federal interventions, and a last-minute round of bargaining that ultimately failed to produce an agreement.

Five labor unions representing engineers, signal workers, and machinists say they are protesting what they describe as insufficient wage increases. The MTA, however, blames union leaders for the breakdown, saying it has made offers that include pay raises but claims unions have been unwilling to compromise.

To help ease the disruption, the MTA plans to provide free shuttle bus service from six Long Island stations to two subway hubs in Queens. However, the agency acknowledges the service will be limited, with far fewer seats than needed. Additionally, the shuttle buses will not begin operating until Monday and will run only on weekdays.

300,000 commuters are impacted as the strike continues.

In a post on X, Governor Hochul said she has been briefed by MTA officials on alternate service plans and the status of negotiations.

Hochul added that the MTA remains ready to negotiate and encouraged both sides to "work around the clock toward a deal that ends this strike."

However, in an update released Saturday evening, the LIRR unions called it an "open-ended strike" and said no talks had been scheduled for the day. The unions also confirmed to ABC News that, despite claims in Hochul's post, MTA officials had not reached out to them about negotiations.

According to the union statement, talks broke down when the MTA added "healthcare takeaways and other concessionary issues to the table literally in the 11th hour before a midnight strike deadline. These regressive management demands had never been raised previously."

The unions also criticized comments made by MTA officials following the strike announcement and said that, despite the agency saying higher wages for workers would lead to increased fares, the Presidential Emergency Board's expert panel found otherwise.

Workers plan to continue picketing on Sunday, according to the update.