Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: He has done so much for the City of New York,
Speaker 2: including being actively involved in the rebuild of Lower Manhattan.
Speaker 2: After September eleventh of two thousand and one, Governor Cuomo
Speaker 2: the Younger had him move forward to driving so much
Speaker 2: of the MTA, where he continues to provide wonderful service
Speaker 2: across a huge reach. Jenna Leeber joins us this morning, Jenna,
Speaker 2: I don't I'm not familiar with the r other than
Speaker 2: the cannonball out demun talking back. That's the fun part
Speaker 2: of it. This morning is not fun for you. What's
Speaker 2: your biggest headache this morning?
Speaker 3: You know what Tom service is. Actually, the system is working.
Speaker 3: Most people have taken the Governor's suggestion to make it
Speaker 3: a telework day. Ninety five percent in Long Islander's telework
Speaker 3: during COVID, and they know how.
Speaker 1: To do it.
Speaker 3: The turnout at our shuttle bus locations has been pretty light,
Speaker 3: so people who have to come into the city are
Speaker 3: getting there, and the subway service from the Queen's Subway
Speaker 3: stations where people being dropped off, has been fantastic.
Speaker 1: So far, so good.
Speaker 3: But it's the first day and we would like to
Speaker 3: resolve this issue and restore Long Island roilroad service, which
Speaker 3: carries like three hundred thousand people a day most days.
Speaker 4: At this point, given what we know general, how long
Speaker 4: would you expect this strike to last?
Speaker 3: Listen, we made progress yesterday. The talks were productive. It
Speaker 3: went on until one point thirty in the morning. We're
Speaker 3: back at the table already this morning. We are hopeful
Speaker 3: that we can put this to bed, but the union's
Speaker 3: got to move a little bit further and make sure
Speaker 3: and your listeners get it. We do not want to
Speaker 3: have the outcome of this deal, which is a request
Speaker 3: for better wages than the rest of the MTA workers received,
Speaker 3: to result in additional fare, heights or additional taxes. That's
Speaker 3: why we're pushing back a little bit on the strikers.
Speaker 4: Assuming a deal gets done, what's the ramp up time
Speaker 4: to get this railroad back up and running to service
Speaker 4: its customers.
Speaker 3: Generally speaking, it's whenever we get it done. We think
Speaker 3: we get service back the next day. And that's because
Speaker 3: you not only got to move people and equipment into position,
Speaker 3: we have to perform a lot of federally required inspections,
Speaker 3: especially of the trains, so there's some of the mechanics
Speaker 3: that have to be gone through before we can put
Speaker 3: those put those trains back on the rails and start
Speaker 3: to take passengers where they're going.
Speaker 5: How unified is your system?
Speaker 2: I mean you've got three hundred thousand plus on the LR,
Speaker 2: or you got Metro North, four other things.
Speaker 5: General I'm not familiar with. I'm your worst nightmare, Jenne.
Speaker 5: I have no life.
Speaker 1: I go nowhere.
Speaker 2: But I look geno at the system unified? Like does
Speaker 2: a driver make the same amount on each system?
Speaker 5: To the ticket people make the same amount? How unified
Speaker 5: is a system?
Speaker 3: Oh, in the sense of you're right that there are
Speaker 3: different unions. Have tom we have eighty separate bargaining units.
Speaker 3: We have eighty separate unions in effect to negotiate with.
Speaker 3: It is really a complicated labor environment, and there are
Speaker 3: differences among them. But generally speaking, we do what we
Speaker 3: call pattern bargaining. We make a deal with the biggest union,
Speaker 3: and then the others have to fit their deals within
Speaker 3: the economic box that that creates.
Speaker 1: This group of unions wants.
Speaker 3: To go outside the box to get us a special deal,
Speaker 3: and that is the source of the tension and the
Speaker 3: conflicts so far. But as I said, we're trying to
Speaker 3: resolve it. Chop chop right.
Speaker 4: Now, Jenna, when give us a state of the negotiations
Speaker 4: right now? Are talks ongoing, are they scheduled? What's the
Speaker 4: story of the negotiations.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're going on right now.
Speaker 3: They resumed at seven thirty this morning, as I said,
Speaker 3: folks took a break at about one thirty in the
Speaker 3: morning last night. I was here with them and they're
Speaker 3: back at the table right now as we're speaking. So
Speaker 3: I don't have an update, but work is going on
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 4: Aside from the Federal Mediation Board that's helping in the discussions,
Speaker 4: is anyone in Congress or in the executive branch helping
Speaker 4: the parties reach a deal?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean the governor has been, you know, side
Speaker 3: by side with us throughout and she has been monitoring
Speaker 3: the discussions very closely.
Speaker 1: I've been in touch with her team.
Speaker 3: Throughout the night in fact, as well as the governor herself,
Speaker 3: So she's been the major player. You know, Congress really
Speaker 3: doesn't have a role here because once these unions were
Speaker 3: released by so they could go on strike by Trump's
Speaker 3: a national mediation board. There's really no further role for
Speaker 3: the federal government.
Speaker 5: Does the Long Island Railroad break even?
Speaker 3: No way. In fact, the Long Island Road is the
Speaker 3: most highly subsidized of our MTA operations, the subways, the
Speaker 3: Metro North and the Long Island Road. So you're right, Tom,
Speaker 3: Your question highlights the fact that we can't expect regional
Speaker 3: taxpayers to keep pumping money for special deals into the
Speaker 3: Long Island Road.
Speaker 2: Everybody up to one thirty, our John Tucker wants to
Speaker 2: know when will the talks restart?
Speaker 5: Do you start them this morning? Do you have a
Speaker 5: one day cool off?
Speaker 2: Which hotel should Alexis christopherus go protest that?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 3: This is they're going on right now at the MTA headquarters,
Speaker 3: a couple floors away from where I am speaking to
Speaker 3: you from Jennall.
Speaker 4: Can you just summarize kind of where we are right
Speaker 4: now in terms what's the differential? What's is there a
Speaker 4: bids spread that is on wages? What's the real stumbling
Speaker 4: block right now?
Speaker 1: Honestly, Paul, it's not.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's productive for me to get
Speaker 3: into those details because we're trying to iron something out.
Speaker 3: But you know, we talked about a little bit yesterday.
Speaker 3: You know, it's it's wages and benefits and you know,
Speaker 3: basic basic stuff like that.
Speaker 2: You know, I look, Jenno is we're as we're getting ready,
Speaker 2: and I know you've got to get back to your
Speaker 2: busy day. I'm using artificial intelligence and here google Gemini
Speaker 2: General and everything I'm dealing with.
Speaker 5: Here's my question to AI this morning.
Speaker 2: Was the one hundred and fifty dollars fare to the
Speaker 2: World Cup? Was that Geno Liber's fault? And here's the
Speaker 2: answer from AI.
Speaker 5: No, you can't pin this one on Channel Liber What
Speaker 5: a mess?
Speaker 2: General discuss just the pr madness of that fair.
Speaker 1: Well, the PR is the PR.
Speaker 3: But I'll tell you this, I am sympathetic to the
Speaker 3: folks who run New Jersey Transit, which you know, they
Speaker 3: they operate a system where they're running on Amtrak railroads
Speaker 3: and Amtrak infrastructure that.
Speaker 1: Has not been maintained.
Speaker 3: They have a tough financial situation and they're trying to
Speaker 3: make sure that they don't get killed because you know, budgetarily,
Speaker 3: because there's a there's a you know, they got to
Speaker 3: turn off their system to accommodate soccer fans who come
Speaker 3: from other countries and are paying a thousand dollars a ticket,
Speaker 3: so I have a little sympathy for the folks in
Speaker 3: New Jersey transit. I think it's getting worked out over time.
Speaker 2: Well, it's cannonball run this weekend. Come on on World
Speaker 2: Day weekend, Come on General for you.
Speaker 1: We'll try to make sure the cannonball runs.
Speaker 2: Tom thank you, General ever, thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: And is incredibly busy day