UPDATED: May 19

Service on the Long Island Rail Road is resuming after a new contract was signed with labor unions who had gone on strike on May 16. It was the first strike on the railroad in more than 30 years.

Chartered in 1834, the Long Island Rail Road is America’s busiest commuter railroad, moving more than 300,000 passengers per day. But front-line employees, including locomotive engineers and signalmen, had been working without a new contract for years. While the Long Island Rail Road’s parent, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, had secured deals with unions at its other railroads, a compromise had been elusive on the LIRR.

“BLET Teamsters and their brothers and sisters across four other unions just showed this entire country what worker solidarity looks like in action,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “These union railroaders made it clear from the start they would not accept a deal that shortchanged them and undercut their standard of living. For three long days they bravely withheld their labor on picket lines across the New York metropolitan area. Every worker in America is reminded of what can be achieved through courage and conviction to fight for a better way of life.”

—Justin Franz