COVID-19 testing protocols in place for Long Island Rail Road employees could result in them spreading the coronavirus to co-workers — and riders — for several days because it takes so long to get test results back, labor leaders said.
The heads of four of the largest LIRR unions said flaws in the pickup, drop-off and processing of COVID-19 testing kits at dozens of employee facilities have led to kits sitting for days in frigid winter temperatures before being collected. Workers regularly have to wait more than a week to receive results, they said.
What to know
LIRR union leaders say flaws in the railroad’s COVID-19 employee testing program are leading to some employees waiting up to 10 days to get their results, and, in the meantime, potentially going to work infected and spreading the virus.
The unions say completed test kits are left in outdoor containers for several days, sometimes in frigid temperatures, before they are picked up by contractors. The kits are supposed to be kept at room temperature and processed within 72 hours.
LIRR officials say they’ve already made changes to the program, including by ensuring more frequent pickups of kits. The unions have suggested using the LIRR’s own workers to speed up the delivery process.
“It’s happening all over the place. … It’s not an anomaly,” said Anthony Simon, who heads the LIRR’s largest union and has raised concerns that the test results’ lag time potentially could lead to crew shortages. “We’re holding our own. … Our crews are working diligently to protect themselves.”
While declining to address specific allegations made by union leaders, LIRR officials said they recently made changes to streamline testing and make sure test samples “maintain viability.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority — the LIRR’s parent organization — requires employees who are not vaccinated to be tested for COVID-19 weekly. The agency provides the tests for free at hundreds of employee facilities throughout its territory. Workers who test positive must quarantine for at least five days before returning to work.
At the height of the omicron variant outbreak this winter, more than 10% of the MTA’s workforce was out sick, resulting in service reductions on some subway lines. The LIRR did not have to reduce service and actually added several trains to its schedule last month.
The MTA said Friday that the rate of employees out with COVID-19 has dropped to less than 1%.
Michael Sullivan, who works as an LIRR signalman and also heads the signalmen’s union, said he learned he was positive for COVID-19 in December — 10 days after taking a test.
“It’s so backed up, for all we know there could be people riding the trains and working that are infected,” Sullivan said.
Labor leaders have attributed much of the confusion to outside third-party vendors hired by the MTA as part of a $100 million effort to test unvaccinated workers.
In a statement, MTA spokesman Eugene Resnick said the authority has “implemented more frequent pickups of testing kits across all LIRR locations to ensure samples maintain viability.”
“We will continue to make improvements in the logistics of collecting saliva tests to ensure both convenience for our workforce and security of collected kits,” Resnick said.
Sullivan said he was told by MTA officials that a contractor was recently fired over the delays. The MTA, which has partnered with the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City to provide and process the test, confirmed Friday that a subcontractor used by Mount Sinai, named “C-19,” was no longer being used. A Mount Sinai spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Under the LIRR’s testing program, the vendors place test kits in boxes outside of about 50 LIRR employee facilities, and pick up completed testing samples to be processed at a lab. According to the MTA’s published testing protocols, results are supposed to be available within 24 to 48 hours “under normal circumstances.”
A printed list of “warnings and precautions” that accompany the test kits states that samples “received after 72 hours will be rejected.” It also says that the kits “should be stored at room temperature and in a cool, dry place.”
Union: System riddled with problems
Union officials said the contractors have been botching testing protocols for weeks. Sullivan said a foreman in his union had four weeks of uncollected tests in one location. Simon said some samples are frozen by the time they are picked up.
Ricardo Sanchez, general chairman of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 589, said one of his members didn’t get back his positive COVID-19 test result for 10 days. Had the worker not been staying home with his sick wife, “He would have been going to work every day” while infected, Sanchez said.
Sanchez said having an effective testing system in place is critical, because the MTA has opted against instituting a vaccine mandate. According to the MTA, 75% of its approximately 70,000 employees have provided proof of vaccination.
“If you’re making it optional, then you have an obligation to those people who don’t want to get vaccinated,” Sanchez said. “If they’re testing once a week, it shouldn’t be that difficult. … Two years into it, that’s just inefficiency.”
Union officials have said they’ve been told that some of the delays have been caused by supply chain issues, and contracted vendors not being familiar with LIRR employee facilities, in addition to having problems accessing some test box locations.
To help expedite the processing of tests, union leaders said they’ve suggested using the railroad’s own postal delivery workers to pick up and drop off the kits at employee facilities. The small team of about a half-dozen employees already travels throughout the LIRR territory, picking up and dropping off paychecks and other documents.
“We would have a set schedule, a set time every day. This would be the plan,” said Nicholas Peluso, national representative for the Transportation Communication Union, which represents the delivery workers. “They said, ‘Thanks for the suggestion.’ But we haven’t heard anything.”
