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Cheers to a Bright N Your next move starts ew Year! here.

Laura Gillen is sworn in

Leaders talk at L.i. Association

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VOL. 36 NO. 3

JANUAry 16 - 22, 2025

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Starbucks workers rally for higher pay brook store motivated her and other members of the staff to advocate for better conditions. “The change after we unionAbout a dozen employees of the Lynbrook Starbucks, mem- ized was significant,” Ryan said. bers of Starbucks Workers Unit- “We went from having a really ed, returned to work on Dec. 29 bad manager, who didn’t care after taking part in a national about any worker, to now having a better manager five-day strike — who doesn’t target but many members people for being of the employee-led pro-union.” u n i o n s ay t h e i r One event last appetite for negotiyear marked a turnating higher pay ing point at which and more stable Ryan and others work environments decided to go on at the coffee compastrike. In February, ny remain strong. when both a white Liv Ryan, a e m p l oye e a n d a 26-year-old Valley B l a c k e m p l o ye e S t re a m re s i d e n t wore union T-shirts and a five-year Star- LiV ryAN under neath their b u c k s e m p l o ye e Marketing delegate, jackets, the managwho began organiz- Starbucks’ er at the time called ing for the union in Workers United out only the Black 2020, said that the employee, telling organization has played pivotal roles in pay and the employee to take it off, Ryan workplace management since recounted. “That day was crazy,” she the store voted to unionize last said, adding, of the manager, February. Ryan, a shift lead at the 839 “She kicked us out of the store Sunrise Highway location and a mid-shift.” Because Ryan is a union marketing delegate for the Starbucks union, said that accounts member, she was paid for the of previous management’s entire shift. But, Ryan said the racially charged discipline and union can make up for workers’ pay discrepancies at the LynContinued on page 16

By AiNSLey MArTiNez

amartinez@liherald.com

Tim Baker/Herald file photo

While Valley Stream station riders on a recent day said they were mostly satisfied with their service, they scowled at the possibility of another fare increase.

Why LIRR’s record on-time rate tells only half the story By JUAN LASSO jlasso@liherald.com

With New York City’s new congestion pricing system now in place, Gov. Kathy Hochul rode the rails to Syosset last week, urging city-bound Long Island commuters to leave their cars at home and embrace “world-class” public transit. On Long Island, the tolling program is expected to increase commuters’ reliance on the Long Island Rail Road. Weekday ridership climbed from about 77 percent of prepandemic levels in 2023 to roughly 80 percent last year. Transit officials, meanwhile, are highlighting the improved service of the railway system, emphasizing a pro-public transit

message to court suburban commuters looking to avoid the $9 toll to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. LIRR President Rob Free boasted that a higher percentage of trains operated on time last year than ever before. “Our 95.6 percent on-time performance in 2024 is our highest non-Covid year in the history that we’ve been tracking on-time performance,” Free said.

Three years of growth and growing pains An analysis of LIRR data over the past three years, however, combined with riders’ firsthand accounts, paints a fuller — and undeniably more complicated — picture. The number of late trains nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023, from 8,691 to 17,064. The Continued on page 10

ong Island, compared to the rest of New York state, is a sad, sad worker’s hell.