N.Y. Transit Strike Deadline Passes, but Still No Word on Walkout Plans

A strike deadline came and went early today with no word of a walkout, but prospects remained dim that negotiators would reach a deal to avert a crippling shutdown of the city’s subway and bus system.

Talks broke down about an hour before the midnight strike deadline, and the Transport Workers Union and Metropolitan Transportation Authority offered bleak assessments of the possibility of avoiding a strike.

The 12:01 a.m. deadline passed with no word on whether transit workers would go on strike. The union board was meeting at its headquarters to discuss its next move.

Turning up the pressure on the city’s transit agency, union members at two private bus lines in Queens walked off the job early Monday.

More than 7 million daily riders would have to find new ways to get around if the 33,000-member Transport Workers Union shut down the nation’s largest transit system.

With an hour before the deadline, Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Tom Kelly said the MTA had put a fair offer on the table.

“Unfortunately, that offer has been rejected,” he said.

Kelly did not elaborate, and the union said only that President Roger Toussaint was on his way to union headquarters to discuss developments with the board, which would vote on whether to strike.

Earlier, Toussaint sounded pessimistic about reaching a deal as he appeared before a boisterous gathering of union members.

“As we stand right now, with six hours to go until our deadline, it does not look good,” he said. “I’m going to leave you now and go back to the hotel and give it one last shot.”

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow told New Yorkers to “keep your fingers crossed.”

Meanwhile, the union posted a strike plan on its website, instructing members to lock up facilities safely and document everything they do to prevent “management sabotage.”

If the union’s executive board calls for a walkout, buses would drop off all passengers and return to their depots. Subways would finish their trips as turnstiles are chained and locked.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said a walkout could cost the city as much as $400 million a day -- a figure that includes police overtime and lost business and productivity. It would be particularly harsh at the height of the holiday shopping rush.

The mayor said a strike would freeze traffic into “gridlock that will tie the record for all gridlocks.”

Under state law, transit workers are barred from going on strike. A walkout could bring punishing fines.

The workers’ old contract expired early Friday, but the union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed to keep talking through the weekend.

Many commuter were fed up with the uncertainty.

“Enough is enough,” said Craig DeRosa, who relies on the subway to get to work. “Their benefits are as rich as you see anywhere in this country, and they are still complaining. I don’t get it.”