NEW YORK – North America’s largest commuter rail system is facing a potential shutdown as a deadline nears to reach a deal with unionized workers to avert a strike.
The Long Island Rail Road that serves New York City’s eastern suburbs has been negotiating for months on a new contract with labor officials representing locomotive engineers, machinists, signalmen and other train workers.
Five labor unions representing about half the train system’s 7,000-person workforce warned this week that Saturday’s deadline was approaching…