LIRR worker: 'To live on Long Island, you have to make a fair wage'

Ann Gilmour, TCU financial secretary, said she learned of the strike through a text message.

She said she felt frustrated when no deal was reached Saturday morning.

“We want to work, we want to get the people moving on the trains,” Gilmour said. “We just want a fair wage, that’s it.”

Gilmour said she and so many union members live on Long Island and struggle to make ends meet due to the cost of living here.

As a single mom, she has had to work seven days a week at times as a ticket clerk to be able to pay her bills.

“To live on Long Island, you have to make a fair wage,” she said. “Minimum wage is not doing it with the price of rents and houses and everything. What are you gonna do?”

Gilmour said she has been with the railroad for more than 20 years and started out as a cleaner.

Her message to the commuters: “It’s not us,” Gilmour said. “Why can't they just give us what we deserve? ... sign the contract, give us what we deserve, so we can go back to moving people.”