Deal Keeps N.Y. Transit on Track

A crippling New York City transit strike was averted early today with a new contract agreement that spared 3.5 million New Yorkers from a horrific morning rush hour.

The deal followed daylong negotiations between subway and bus workers and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in a midtown Manhattan hotel--talks that stretched more than two hours past a 12:01 a.m. deadline when the contract expired.

But after a judge on Tuesday ordered fines starting at $1 million a day against the union if there was an illegal walkout, the union president urged members not to strike.

The stakes were raised earlier when the judge issued twin restraining orders barring the 33,000 transit workers from going on strike, citing a state law making walkouts by public employees illegal.

Several thousand union members took a voice vote Tuesday evening that indicated workers were overwhelmingly willing to defy the orders and strike, union member Steve Novick said.