LIRR Strike Threat Gets Closer as MTA, Unions Fight Over Pay

The threat of a Long Island Rail Road strike is moving closer to reality, with labor unions and state officials yet to reach agreement on a wage increase for this year.

About 3,500 LIRR engineers, signalmen and electrical workers could walk off the job as soon as Saturday, crippling the nation’s largest commuter rail line and leaving tens of thousands of riders to find other ways to get around Long Island and into New York City. The last strike by LIRR workers was in 1994.