6,600 Workers Idled as Strike Halts N.Y. Commuter Rail Line

The nation’s busiest commuter railway shut down Sunday when contract negotiations failed between the Long Island Rail Road and 11 unions, idling 6,600 workers.

“Operations on the railroad are now shut down,” Long Island Rail Road spokesman Jim Burns said shortly after the strike over wages and benefits began at 6:01 a.m.

The effects of the strike were minimal Sunday, a light ridership day, and were not expected to be fully felt today, the federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Picketing was not planned until Tuesday, but if the strike lasts until then, it will force nearly 150,000 passengers between the Long Island suburbs and New York City to seek alternative transportation. The passengers’ total trips on the railroad average 272,000 per weekday.

Officials set up an information hot line, planned special express buses and urged commuters to use car pools.

The railroad sent telegrams to the unions that have not reached contract agreements calling for negotiations to resume at 11 a.m. today.

John A. Caggiano, who speaks for a coalition of the unions, called the telegram encouraging and said the unions would attend the talks.

Caggiano, business manager of Local 589 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, called on Gov. Mario M. Cuomo and Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) to meet with Robert Kiley, head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and reconsider the management position. The MTA is the LIRR’s parent agency.

Sunday’s walkout climaxed two years of federally sponsored negotiations, including two cooling-off periods. It occurred after five unions suddenly withdrew from the talks and two others--the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the Police Benevolent Assn.--failed to reach agreement with management.

The engineers and police were the only workers to declare a strike, but leaders of the other unions said they would honor picket lines. LIRR President Bruce McIver said he considered any union not under contract to be on strike.

One person died Sunday, less than four hours after the strike began, when an automobile and an LIRR train collided at a crossing in Mastic.