LIRR unions, MTA's late-night bargaining session ends with no deal to stop strike

A late-night meeting between the MTA and union leaders failed to end a strike that shut down the Long Island Rail Road , setting the stage for a rough start to the week for hundreds of thousands of commuters. The National Mediation Board said it summoned both sides Sunday night and went on until around 1:30 a.m. The board is a federal agency that handles labor relations for railroads. The goal of the meeting was to restart bargaining between the five LIRR unions and MTA, which together support the busiest commuter rail system in North America. They will return to the negotiation table at 7:30 a.m. Monday. The NMB's call to a meeting came hours after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul appealed to the unions to return to the bargaining table. "I'll provide refreshments, whatever you like. Just come on back. This is important to show that we have partners who are willing to get to a resolution to this, because it's hurting their members as well as our commuters," Hochul said at a news conference. MTA made sudden demands, union sources say Union sources said earlier the MTA had agreed to a 9.5% wage hike for the first three years of the contract and were only 2 percentage points apart on the fourth year, when sources say the MTA suddenly asked for a steep raise in healthcare contributions from new hires from 2-10% "The raises we were being offered weren't actually raises when you factor in inflation," said Steve Ammirati, with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. …