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NEW YORK — <\/span>Commuters in New York City\u2019s suburbs navigated a gauntlet of car, bus and subway routes to get to work Monday after a strike on the Long Island Rail Road that shut down<\/a> the nation\u2019s busiest commuter rail system entered its third day.<\/p>\n Unions representing rail workers and the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, which runs the railroad, negotiated for much of Sunday, wrapping their talks around 1 a.m., but failed to reach an agreement, despite pressure from the National Mediation Board and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. A spokesperson for union workers said negotiators returned to the bargaining table early Monday.<\/p>\n Katie Dolgow, who teaches first graders in Manhattan, said it had already taken her an hour just to travel from Long Island to Queens as more commuters turned to the region’s already notoriously gridlocked roads. But her big concern was coming home. <\/p>\n \u201cI have to get my son at daycare by 5:30. It’s going to take me longer getting home. I’m a teacher, I’m going to have leave work at 1:30,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Picketers were out early. <\/p>\n \u201cWe’re just asking for a reasonable cost of living adjustment on our wages,\u201d Byron Lee, a locomotive engineer, said outside Penn Station in midtown Manhattan. \u201cPeople think that you don’t deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n The LIRR serves hundreds of thousands of commuters who live along a 118-mile-long (190-kilometer-long) land mass that includes Brooklyn and Queens in New York City and the Hamptons, a summertime playground for the rich and famous near its eastern tip. The railroad has long provided commuters relief from its rush-hour clogged highways.<\/p>\n Most of its riders live outside New York City in two counties populated by nearly three million people.<\/p>\n The railroad closed down and workers went on strike<\/a> at 12:01 a.m. Saturday after five unions representing about half its workforce walked off the job for the first time in three decades.<\/p>\n The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Transportation Communications Union said in a statement Sunday that workers \u201care not asking for special treatment \u2014 they are simply fighting to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living in the New York region after years without a raise.\u201d<\/p>\n The unions and the MTA have been negotiating a new contract since 2023<\/a>, but talks have stalled over salaries and healthcare. The Trump administration got involved in September after unions asked for the appointment of a panel of experts, but they still couldn’t reach a deal. <\/p>\n At a news conference Sunday, Hochul said workers would lose every dollar they would gain with a new contract by remaining on strike for three days.<\/p>\n MTA Chairman Janno Lieber also urged a fast resolution. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are headed in a positive direction but we have to get it finished,\u201d Lieber told WABC-TV. <\/p>\n The first to be affected by the walkout \u2014 the LIRR’s first since a two-day strike in 1994 \u2014 were the many sports fans who wanted to see the Yankees and Mets battle or the Knicks\u2019 playoff run at Madison Square Garden, which is located directly above the railroad\u2019s Penn Station hub in Manhattan. <\/p>\n