In Today’s News and Commentary, a strike by Long Island Railroad employees is temporarily averted, the Department of Justice sues Rhode Island over a minority teachers student loan repayment program, and University of California employees sue the Trump Administration for financial coercion.
On Tuesday, in response to a request from a coalition of unions, President Trump issued an executive order establishing an emergency board to review a dispute between the Long Island Rail Road and the unions. The railroad’s workforce is among the highest paid in the nation, and while representatives of other Metropolitan Transit Authority employees have already agreed to a 9.5 percent wage increase over the next three years, the unions want an additional 6.5 percent increase in a fourth year to help keep pace with inflation. Contract negotiations have been in mediation for over a year, but in August, the National Mediation Board released the unions from ongoing mediation. Before asking for assistance from President Trump, the unions had planned to go on strike yesterday for the first time in over 30 years. Whether the presidential emergency board will result in a contract or simply postpone the strike until next year remains to be seen. But for now, riders of the biggest commuter rail service in the United States can breathe a sigh of relief.
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