How Cuomo got his picture-perfect LIRR moment

[hrmjustin]

Ryan Hutchins


On Monday, they didn’t want to be in the same room. The negotiators for the M.T.A. and the Long Island Rail Road’s eight labor unions couldn’t even spend a full hour at the bargaining table before they all left in a huff—six days before a strike was to begin.

Each side blamed the other: “Until they’re ready to move, there’s no reason to have negotiations,” M.T.A. Chairman Tom Prendergast said at the time.

“M.T.A. rejected the counter-offer we presented last Thursday. They presented no counter-proposal,” union spokesman Anthony Simon said.

Three days later they were sitting together at a table with Governor Andrew Cuomo, smiles all around. Each side thanked the other. And they thanked Cuomo, saying they couldn’t have reached a deal without him. He brought them together, they said.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/07/8549192/how-cuomo-got-his-picture-perfect-lirr-moment

[hrmjustin]

1. Strike threat plays to Cuomo's image as pragmatist

http://m.herkimertelegram.com/article/20140718/NEWS/140719499/1999/NEWS