New York ? Threatened with huge fines and possible jail time, the city’s transit union suggested Wednesday that it would be willing to end a strike that has shut down bus and subway service for two days – if the city drops its plan for changing workers’ pensions.

The contract covering 33,000 New York transit workers expired last week, and the union called the strike Tuesday morning despite a state law banning public employee strikes.

According to the union president, the sticking point is a proposed change in pensions. The Metropolitan Transit Authority’s last contract proposed maintaining a retirement age of 55 but increasing what new hires contribute to the pension plan. New employees would pay 6 percent of their wages during their first 10 years, rather than the current 2 percent.

“Were it not for the pension piece, we would not be out on strike,” Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint said.

A crowd moves along 33rd Street in front of Pennsylvania Station as commuters wait for the Long Island Railroad during the second day of a transit strike against subways and buses in New York. The railroad, which usually services suburbs of Long Island, is now making local stops in parts of the city's outer boroughs.

As the strike proceeded through a second day Wednesday, state Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones ordered Toussaint and two of his deputies to court this morning to face criminal contempt charges for ordering the illegal walkout.

Jones has already imposed $1 million-a-day fines on the union, and he could impose individual fines or jail time on union leaders and workers as well.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he didn’t think jail was appropriate. “The fines are what is going to hurt. Fines don’t make you a martyr and fines you don’t get back,” he said.

Attorneys for the city began a separate legal proceeding to turn the financial screws on rank-and-file union members, a move that could bring them to court to face charges of civil contempt.

Michael A. Cardozo, New York City’s corporation counsel, asked the judge to issue a second order directing union members to return to work. If such an order were ignored, Cardozo said the city could ask for heavy fines per worker – a punishment beyond the docked-pay penalty workers already face.