Ontario colleges are bracing for a “fairly protracted strike” after 12,000 faculty hit the picket lines Monday despite last-ditch proposals that still saw the two sides far apart on key issues.

At Queen’s Park, the post-secondary minister and opposition MPPs were urging the two sides to get back to the table so that about 300,000 students can get back to class.

“Of course we want both sides to get back to the table,” said Deb Matthews, minister of advanced education and skills development, at the legislature. “We want students back in the classroom as quickly as possible … I wish, of course, that both sides will get back and resolve this dispute.”

Speaking to reporters after Question Period, Matthews said it is too early to speculate on when or if the government would consider back-to-work legislation.

“We have to let the collective bargaining process work and give it the space to do that,” she said. “But it’s very important for students that they do get back to the table and find a resolution and get students back in the classroom.”

For students, the job action has already been “absolutely confusing … what the strike means to students varies from one campus to another and depends on the program, said Joel Willett, president of the College Student Alliance.

In general, academic programming, apprenticeship training, part-time studies courses and seminars are cancelled while co-op, online learning and internships — which don’t involve college faculty in the day-to-day activities of students — continue to operate.

But “some things that may work at Humber aren’t the same with what’s going on at Conestoga,” said Willett. “It makes it very confusing when students look to the media and social media for information. Our big message is pay attention to what’s happening on your campus.”

He said the lack of reliable information about the strike being shared with students is causing a lot of anxiety.

“It’s very frustrating for any student, no matter what program you’re in, to be able to navigate it all.”

Faculty members — including full-time professors, instructors who teach anywhere from seven to 12 hours a week, counsellors and librarians — walked off the job first thing Monday, after the bargaining team for the province’s 24 public colleges rejected the union’s final offer.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union wants half of faculty to be full-time, is looking for increased job security for part-timers as well as more academic freedom. It had dropped demands for university-style “senates” at colleges to give teachers a bigger say.

“We have been seeing incredible shows of solidarity of support from the public, from parents, from students for it because our issues are really about quality and fairness within the college system. This isn’t a wages and benefits round,” said JP Hornick, a professor at George Brown who heads the union’s college bargaining team.

The colleges have proposed improvements to benefits as well as a 7.75 per cent wage boost over four years. The union is seeking 9 per cent over three.

Don Sinclair, CEO of the College Employer Council — which bargains on behalf of the colleges — said no student has ever lost a school year because of a strike.

“Our settlement offer is good or better than what’s been accepted” by other public sector unions, he said, adding he “doesn’t get it, why they pulled the plug … It’s one thing to take a union out when the employer is demanding concessions. That is not the case. They are actually demanding changes to the way college operate and that’s just not on.”

He said the colleges can’t promise a 50-50 staffing ratio — bringing the number of full-time staff up to half — because it’s too rigid amid declining demographics, and too costly. Sinclair said the union’s demands come with a $250 million price tag.

Depending on how it’s calculated, full-time faculty represent about one-third of all teachers strictly by head count, and by teaching hours they represent half.

Sinclair also said partial-load instructors have job security once they have been teaching for a certain amount of time.

A Change.org petition for college student fee refunds in light of the strike has reached about 45,000 signatures.Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown said the college system is in need of “provincial leadership, so we have students in the classroom.”

“ … I know that one day of a strike is too long. The government can just ignore this and allow it to go on, but I want, and what I’m pushing for, is that we get a commitment that the premier is going to take this seriously and the premier is going to do everything she can to get both sides back to the table and get students back in class.”

NDP education critic Peggy Sattler said “faculty want fairness and students want opportunities to learn. What is this Liberal government doing to get both faculty and students back into classrooms, while making sure that students are not forced to carry an increased financial burden because of the strike?”

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Willett says a lot of people are at college for second careers or to boost employability.

“If students are indeed a priority, then missing out on critical work experience is not helping them any further on finding that career.”

With files from Andrea Gordon, Vjosa Isai, Alexandra Jones and Bryann Aguilar