At midnight, New Yorkers will learn if the city’s 25,000 office janitors and doormen will be on the job in the morning.

Local 32BJ’s demands for more affordable health coverage must be met by the Realty Board on Labor Relations, or the city’s office cleaners and service workers will walk out when their contract expires at 12:01 on Friday morning.

The president of the Realty Advisory Board, James Berg, issued a statement yesterday: “The parties are still negotiating, but are far apart.”

The main issue is health care, which union leaders and real estate industry representatives spent yesterday discussing in around-the-clock board meetings at the New York Hilton. With skyrocketing medical care and prescription drug costs, the union’s health insurance fund has been unable to keep up.

Under the current contract, workers are not required to pay any health care premium and are charged $10 co-payment fees. Building owners are asking that workers contribute a certain amount to the premium and, at the same time, want to raise co-payment fees. For the union, these new policies are unacceptable.

Building owners argue that the dismal state of the commercial rental market makes these extra costs unavoidable. But the union finds these claims preposterous. And Woody Heller, executive managing director and group head of the capital transactions group at Studley, a real estate brokerage firm, backs up the union’s stance. “For quite a while, the market has been somewhat stagnant. But in the last quarter or two, we can actually point to some recovery. Rents are improving for office buildings all over the city.”

On Tuesday, during a news conference, three top city officials, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, Comptroller William Thompson Jr., and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, called on the commercial real estate industry to negotiate with Local 32BJ and avoid a strike.

Ms. Gotbaum told The New York Sun, “There is a crisis in the national health care system. Many employers are pulling back on health-care benefits they are providing workers. It’s a crisis in the country, and it seriously affects our city. Really, what’s going on here is a small example of what a disaster the health care policy is nationally.”

While most union members are not thrilled about going on strike, they are ready to walk out if contract terms are not met. Giuseppe Scandariato, head porter at 100 Church St., said, “If you have to go, you have to go.”