A group of labor unions is threatening to shut down the Long Island Rail Road, the nation’s busiest commuter rail operation, with a strike late next week if officials don’t surrender to their demands. But instead of capitulating, Gov. Hochul can keep trains running: she can enforce New York’s ban on public employee strikes.
The Empire State has never allowed public employees to walk off the job and state law has long explicitly banned strikes. The 1967 Taylor Law reflects a basic recognition of the difference between working for the government — providing essential services — and in the private sector. The LIRR doesn’t turn a profit, or pay dividends. It’s just another public agency within the MTA, another public agency.
But LIRR is treated differently due to a wrinkle in federal law covering railroads, which has long been seen as pre-empting the Taylor Law (and its strike ban). The federal Railway Labor Act instead allows railroad unions to strike in certain circumstances, and LIRR unions have long used that to their advantage.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the New York Daily News (paywall)
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Ken Girardin is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute
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