New York governor pleads for remote work during massive rail strike: ‘regular commuters who can work from home … please do so’

A marathon day of negotiations that finished early Monday failed to end a strike that shut down the Long Island Rail Road, North America’s largest commuter rail system, setting the stage for a rough start to the work week for about 250,000 commuters. Unions representing rail workers and the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, which runs the railroad, negotiated through much of Sunday and early Monday after some prodding from the National Mediation Board and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. The two sides came up short, but the talks went well enough that negotiators agreed to return to their work early Monday morning, according to a spokesperson for union workers. The negotiations lasted so long that even a deal could not have saved Monday morning’s commute because of the time needed to get crews and trains in place. The National Mediation Board, the federal labor agency governing labor relations for railroads and airlines, summoned representatives for both sides to a Sunday afternoon meeting that got the talks started. They continued until nearly 1:30 a.m. Monday. The sides agreed to return to the negotiating table six hours later. Earlier Sunday, Hochul, appeared with the MTA’s chief executive and said they were ready to do whatever was necessary to help talks along as a strike continued for a second day. “We all know that the railroad is the lifeblood of Long Island. Without it, life as we know it is simply not possible. The bottom line is, no one wins in a strike. Everyone is hurt,” she said. Hochul offered to provide refreshments. Nation’s busiest commuter railroad The LIRR serves hundreds of thousands of commuters who live along a 118-mile-long (190-kilometer-long) land mass that includes Brooklyn and Queens in New York City and the Hamptons, a summertime playground for the rich and famous near its eastern tip. The railroad has long provided commuters relief from its rush-hour clogged highways. Most of its riders live outside New York City in two countie