Establishing an Emergency Board To Investigate Disputes Between the Long Island Rail Road Company and Certain of Its Employees Represented by Certain Labor Organizations
Signed: September 16, 2025
Published: September 23, 2025
Document Number: 2025-18479
📋Summary
This executive order creates a presidential emergency board to investigate and report on labor disputes between the Long Island Rail Road Company and employees represented by several unions (including the Transportation Communications Union and multiple rail craft unions). It affects the LIRR, the listed labor organizations, and the covered employees involved in the unresolved disputes under the Railway Labor Act. The order directs the President to appoint a three-member board (with no financial ties to rail labor groups or carriers) and requires the board to deliver a report to the President within 30 days of the board’s start. For 120 days after the board is created, the company and unions must keep existing working conditions in place and cannot change them unless both sides agree. The board ends once it submits its report, its records are treated as presidential records and kept by the National Mediation Board, and the Department of Transportation pays the publication costs.
💼Business Impact
This order most directly affects **Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)**, its **rail labor unions**, and businesses that depend on LIRR service—especially **NYC/Long Island employers with commuter-heavy workforces** (healthcare, hospitality, retail, finance/professional services), **construction firms** moving crews, and **event venues** relying on weekend ridership. The 120‑day “status quo” period under the Railway Labor Act means **no unilateral changes to wages, rules, or working conditions** and typically **reduces near-term strike/lockout risk**, but it also signals a high-stakes dispute that could create **service uncertainty after the cooling-off window** depending on outcomes and next steps. Compliance is mainly on the carrier and unions, but businesses have an opportunity to **stabilize operations** by planning around potential disruptions and by engaging in workforce continuity measures. Immediate actions: (1) **Update continuity plans** for commuting disruptions (expanded remote/hybrid options, staggered shifts, backup parking/shuttles, alternative transit reimbursements) and **stress-test staffing models** for critical roles; (2) **review contracts and SLAs** tied to on-time delivery or on-site
Full Text
Executive Order 14349 of September 16, 2025
Establishing an Emergency Board To Investigate Disputes Between the Long Island Rail Road Company and Certain of Its Employees Represented by Certain Labor Organizations
Disputes exist between the Long Island Rail Road Company and certain of its employees represented by certain labor organizations. The labor organizations involved in these disputes are the Transportation Communications Union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
The disputes have not heretofore been adjusted under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 151-188 (RLA).
Parties empowered by the RLA have requested that the President establish an emergency board pursuant to section 9A of the RLA (45 U.S.C. 159a).
Section 9A(c) of the RLA provides that the President, upon such request, shall appoint an emergency board to investigate and report on the disputes.
NOW, THEREFORE, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 9A of the RLA, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Establishment of Emergency Board (Board). There is established, effective 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on September 18, 2025, a Board composed of a chair and two other members, all of whom shall be appointed by the President to investigate and report on these disputes. No member shall be pecuniarily or otherwise interested in any organization of railroad employees or any carrier. The Board shall perform its functions subject to the availability of funds.
Sec. 2. Report. The Board shall report to the President with respect to the disputes within 30 days of its creation.
Sec. 3. Maintaining Conditions. As provided by section 9A(c) of the RLA, for 120 days from the date of the creation of the Board, no change in the conditions out of which the disputes arose shall be made by the parties to the controversy, except by agreement of the parties.
Sec. 4. Records Maintenance. The records and files of the Board are records of the Office of the President and upon the Board's termination shall be maintained in the physical custody of the National Mediation Board.
Sec. 5. Expiration. The Board shall terminate upon the submission of the report provided for in section 2 of this order.
( printed page 45902)Sec. 6. Costs of Publication. The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of Transportation.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
September 16, 2025.