Strike by NY commuter rail workers averted

NEW YORK (AP) — After four years of negotiations — and weeks of fretting by 300,000 daily riders about a possible strike — unions and management at the nation’s largest commuter railroad reached a tentative contract agreement Thursday.

The deal announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who personally got involved in the final hours of the negotiations, gives Long Island Rail Road workers a 17 percent pay raise over six and a half years but requires them to contribute to their health care costs for the first time.