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Having twice received unfavorable rulings by White House-appointed mediators, the MTA is ready to discuss bigger raises for five Long Island Rail Road unions than what most other transit workers have accepted to avoid a commute-crippling strike, the head of the transit agency said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters following a Manhattan board meeting, Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO and Chairman Janno Lieber said officials met with union leaders Friday for the first one-on-one negotiating session since last summer, and made it clear "we are prepared to talk about" giving workers higher raises than have been previously offered.

But, Lieber said, the MTA wants the unions to help fund those raises through concessions, including productivity increases and work rule changes.

"But a strike that wastes big money for your members is not in anybody’s interest. It’s against both of our interests, just flushing money down the toilet," said the MTA CEO.

Alfonso A. Castillo reports in NEWSDAY that last week, a Presidential Emergency Board of mediators sided for a second time with the unions in their contract fight with the MTA. The labor organizations, which represent about half of all Long Island Rail Road union members, including locomotive engineers and ticket agents, are seeking 14.5% in raises over four years. The MTA, until recently, had been sticking to its offer for a three-year contract totaling 9.5% in raises — the same terms already accepted by most MTA union workers. The MTA recently budged from its position, offering a fourth year at 3% and a $3,000 lump sum payment, but also calling for several concessions.

Kevin Sexton, a spokesperson for the coalition of LIRR unions, said, "The MTA has the financial capacity to reach a fair agreement that maintains employees’ standard of living without unneeded concessions," said Sexton, national vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. "The question is not ability — it is willingness."

Without a settlement, the unions could legally walk off the job as early as mid-May, potentially stranding 250,000 daily LIRR commuters. It would be the first LIRR strike in 32 years.

Lieber said the MTA is "planning for" a strike, and would likely adopt a contingency plan similar to that outlined previously, which included limited shuttle bus service between three railroad stations on Long Island and two subway stations in Queens.

Lieber said yesterday that the MTA is "determined to try to provide transit to essential workers," but expects that most commuters could work remotely.

Even a three-day strike would "wipe out" a significant portion of the wage increases workers are fighting for, Lieber said.

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The incidence of the tick borne ailment called alpha-gal syndrome appears to be growing significantly across the country including in Suffolk County, Long Island.

Joseph Goldstein reports in THE NY TIMES that once regarded as a rarity, the disease, which involves an allergy to red meat that develops after a tick bite, has emerged as a significant health menace, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that as many as 450,000 people nationwide may have had it in the past 15 years. And that is probably an undercount, said Dr. Scott Commins, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine who helped solve the mystery of alpha-gal syndrome about two decades ago.

In recent months, an even more lethal portrait of the disease has emerged.

The allergy has been identified as a potential cause of wide-ranging health woes leading to several recent deaths. Doctors are finding that alpha-gal syndrome may explain gastrointestinal problems in some patients diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. Other physicians speculate that it may contribute to cardiovascular disease.

Most alpha-gal cases in the United States are believed to begin with a bite from the lone star tick. Named for the signature white spot on the back of adult females, the tick is an aggressive hunter, with an unusually long mouth. The resurgence of the white-tailed deer, the tick’s most important host, is one factor driving the rising prevalence of the allergy.

The ticks’ saliva contains a sugar molecule called alpha-gal. The bite can trigger an overactive immune response, causing an allergic reaction when alpha-gal is next encountered. That same sugar molecule is in the tissue of many mammals, though not humans. That’s why red meat poses a risk.

In Suffolk County, between 3,800 and 18,000 people had alpha-gal from 2010 to 2022, based on C.D.C. estimates. That corresponds to as much as 1.2 percent of the population.

In some pockets, that is probably an undercount. On one L-shaped block in Farmingville, Long Island full of swimming pools and encroaching deer, three neighbors said they have alpha-gal syndrome, all diagnosed within the last two years.

MTA to discuss raises for 5 LIRR unions