President Donald Trump escalated his war of words with New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Saturday, accusing the Democrat of trying to pin the blame for a disruptive Long Island Rail Road strike on his administration. In a blistering post on Truth Social, Trump dismissed Hochul's criticism as baseless, insisting he had nothing to do with the walkout that has halted service for hundreds of thousands of commuters.
"Failed New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, a Dumacrat, just blamed ME for her Long Island Railroad STRIKE, when she knows, full well, that I have NOTHING TO DO WITH IT," Trump wrote. "Never even heard about it until this morning."
The strike, the first by LIRR workers in more than three decades, began Saturday after negotiations over a new wage contract collapsed. About 3,500 unionized employees represented by a coalition of five unions, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, walked off the job, demanding a 5 percent wage increase. The workers have gone without a raise for three years during the bargaining process, according to union statements.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority, which operates the LIRR, has countered with a 3 percent wage hike, arguing that larger increases would strain city and state budgets and force fare hikes for passengers. Hochul called the union demands "reckless" in a statement Saturday, noting that LIRR workers are already the highest-paid railroad employees in the country.
"These unions represent the highest paid workers of any railroad in the nation, yet they are demanding contracts that could raise fares as much as 8%, pit workers against one another, and risk tax hikes for Long Islanders. This is unacceptable," Hochul said.
But the governor also trained her fire on the Trump administration, accusing it of sabotaging mediation efforts. "The disruption that Long Islanders face starting tonight is the direct result of reckless actions by the Trump Administration to cut mediation short and push these negotiations toward a strike," she said. Hochul had previously criticized the National Mediation Board, an independent federal agency whose members are nominated by the president, for its handling of the dispute last fall.
"Make no mistake, this is a strike encouraged by Donald Trump and enabled by his allies in Washington," she said in a statement last September, adding that she was "incredibly frustrated" with the silence of Long Island's two Republican members of Congress.
Trump, who has a long history of feuding with Hochul as she seeks reelection this November, used the strike to boost her GOP challenger. He claimed the walkout would be "an easy one" for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman to resolve. "He should be your next Governor and New York State would turn around fast, including far less Crime, and much lower taxes!!!" Trump wrote. He then offered a sarcastic olive branch: "Kathy, call me if you can't do it, I will get it done — I know all the players, great people!!!"
The strike is expected to impact up to 300,000 daily commuters on the LIRR, one of the nation's busiest commuter railroads. For more on the labor dispute's fallout, read our coverage of the LIRR strike halting service for 300,000 commuters as wage dispute boils over. Meanwhile, the political battle between Trump and Hochul is part of a broader pattern of the president wading into state-level races, as seen in the Kentucky primary testing Trump's grip on the GOP.
