JERSEY CITY — Hudson County Superior Court Judge Barry P. Sarkisian on Friday ordered Jersey City teachers to end their strike and go back to work on Monday morning.

Sarkisian made his decision following an hourlong hearing that found Lester Taylor, an attorney for Jersey City's public-school district, and Sarkisian noting that New Jersey law bars teachers from going on strike.

Taylor argued successfully that not issuing the order would cause irreparable harm to the district.

"I do find losing one day of education that's constitutionally mandated to students, our 30,000 students here in the city of Jersey City, constitutes irreparable harm to those students," Sarkisian said.

The district's 3,100 teachers, plus hundreds more school employees, walked off the job this morning after the Jersey City Education Association, which represents the workers, failed to come to a deal for a new contract last night with the school district.

The school district asked the judge to issue the order this afternoon after, according to Taylor, "talks broke down" at a morning negotiation session.

It's not clear whether teachers will obey Sarkisian's order. In 1998, the year of the last teachers' strike, a similar judicial order was initially ignored.

"I'm not optimistic that they're going back to work," Sanford Oxfeld, the JCEA attorney, said after today's hearing.

The union is seeking a new teachers' contract with reduced health care costs. Teachers have said Chapter 78, the 2011 New Jersey law that forced school employees to contribute to their health benefit premiums, has caused their take-home pay to drop.

Taylor told Sarkisian today that the JCEA's beef is not with the Jersey City Board of Education.

"The issue they have is with the New Jersey Legislature," Taylor said today. "They should go Turnpike south, I-95 west and petition the Legislature to change the law to reduce the amount of money they have to pay to their benefits."

In response, a JCEA spokeswoman said, "If Lester Taylor has any understanding of Chapter 78, he knows that we now have the right to bargain our health care contributions. Mr. Taylor needs to look in the mirror and not point to Trenton. We can solve this problem in Jersey City."

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.