NEW YORK, Dec. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The last-ditch talks between the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and transport workers to avoid a transit strike broke off Monday night.

    The talks between the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and MTA collapsed just an hour before 12:01 a.m. (0501 GMT), a deadline when the transport workers threatened to launch a walkout that could strand millions of commuters.

    But the deadline has passed without an immediate word of a strike.

    After the talks, MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said MTA "remained ready to continue the negotiation."

    The MTA had wanted new employees to pay part of their pension and health-care costs and would raise the retirement age for new employees to 62 from 55, a move rejected by the workers.

    TWU President Roger Toussaint said that the union would agree to lower its wage demand to a six percent increase for each year of the three-year contract if the MTA agreed to make security improvements.

    The union's new demand doubles the three-percent raise per year that the MTA has offered.

    Earlier Monday, workers from Queens-based Triboro Coaches and Jamaica Bus Lines walked off their job at 12:01 a.m. as scheduled, leaving 50,000 commuters scrambling for other transport means.

    New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg termed a strike as "illegal," saying "The city and state, courts, everybody, is going to enforce the law. And anyone that thinks that they can just go break the law is sadly mistaken."

    A citywide bus and subway strike would be New York's first since an 11-day walkout in 1980. Enditem