Posts made in July, 2014

No LIRR Strike! The impending LIRR strike that was looming over all of us in the last few weeks would’ve negatively affected so many Long Islanders if it had come to fruition. Luckily, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced today that a resolution has been reached between the MTA and LIRR union officials regarding their contract disagreements. LIRR workers, from conductors and machinists to track workers and other employees, have not been working under contract since 2010. Although the LIRR unions haven’t walked off the job en masse in 20 years, given current circumstances they saw few alternatives despite the knowledge that the strike would impact more than 300,000 daily commuters. Fears of the strike became really real for everyone as we got closer and closer to July 20th. Long Islanders who live in the city had difficulties even imagining how they would get to work come Monday. Imagine putting 300,000 more people on our already traffic-packed highways—I shudder at the thought. Likewise, the idea of walking off the job wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for LIRR employees, either. “You’re going on strike; you’re not going to get paid,” Vincent D’Agostino, a third-rail worker from Massapequa Park told the NY Times, “I still think it’s the right thing to do,...