A push by Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government to end the five-week-old college strike immediately was blocked by the NDP, meaning it could take well into next week to get 500,000 students back into classrooms.

New Democrats refused to allow the introduction and passage of back-to-work legislation Thursday evening, saying they support the right of college staff to reach a negotiated settlement.

Faculty members rejected the colleges’ latest offer Thursday by an overwhelming 87 per cent.

Deputy Premier Deb Matthews said the government, with Progressive Conservative support, plans to table the proposed legislation Friday.

But she cautioned that it will take a rare weekend sitting of the Legislature, or longer, to get the bill passed unless New Democrat MPPs consent to debate and passage Friday, sending the longest college labour dispute in Ontario history to binding arbitration for a settlement.

“We could have done it in 10 minutes (Thursday night) and then students would know they are back in the classroom on Monday,” a frustrated Matthews told reporters.





“It was very disappointing that the NDP decided to block it … Students have suffered enough,” she said, noting that passage of the bill on Friday is the only way to get back in class Monday.

Ontario college students lent support to striking faculty members Oct. 25 at a rally outside the province’s advanced education ministry in Toronto. One student says the length of the strike, which began Oct. 15, is “nerve-wracking.” (The Canadian Press)

“This all hinges on the NDP … They could delay it and we could lose next week as well. We’re at the point now where students are in danger of losing those semesters. That’s a terrible place to be.”

New Democrat House Leader Gilles Bisson said the party “will do what we have to do” in opposing the legislation on principle.

“At the end of the day, it’s the government that created this mess … They just let this thing drag on.”

Read more: Academic freedom cited as stumbling block in talks between colleges and striking faculty

Conservative MPP Sam Oosterhoff (Niagara West-Glanbrook) agreed that the Liberals mishandled the strike, but he accused New Democrats of sacrificing students to make a point.

“Unfortunately, the NDP aren’t willing to see students go back to school Monday morning, so I know a lot of my peers are going to be upset. I’m concerned for their semester,” said the 20-year-old elected a year ago.

“We think Premier Wynne should have done a lot more to bring both sides around the negotiating table … to make sure that students were a priority first and foremost instead of letting things get to this extent.”

The government attempted to introduce the legislation after the College Employer Council and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union couldn’t reach an agreement on a contract deal Thursday with a 5 p.m. deadline set by the government.

That impasse followed the overwhelming rejection by union members of a contract offer from the colleges in a “forced vote.”

Union president Warren “Smokey” Thomas said college faculty will respect the back-to-work bill when it is passed.

“We’re not, as a labour movement, pleased that workers are being legislated back to work but … we are happy that the students will be back in class as early as Monday.”

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He called the NDP position expected. “If political parties want to turn this into a political football I think that’s unfortunate.”

The colleges say OPSEU made new demands, asking for a signing bonus of $5,000 for each member, either full-time or part-time.

But union bargaining chair J.P. Hornick said the money was intended as compensation for the college forcing its latest offer – which OPSEU did not agree to – and prolonging the strike instead of continuing to negotiate.

More than 12,000 faculty have been off the job since Oct. 16, leaving hundreds of thousands of students frustrated and worried they’re at risk of losing their semester.

Matthews had harsh words for both sides in the dispute, saying “both parties share the failure,” while NDP Leader Andrea Horwath blamed it on years of government underfunding.

Turnout for the vote among the 12,000 full-time and partial-load instructors was 95 per cent, with 10,477 voting no and 1,663 in favour.

Voting, conducted online and by phone, began 9 a.m. Tuesday and ended at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

The strike has left students frustrated at missing so much class time — and worried about losing the semester, or the costs they’ll incur should the school year be extended to make up lost time. Students have held a number of protests, and a group of 14 began a class-action lawsuit seeking tuition and fee refunds.

The offer faculty voted on included provisions to set up a provincial task force looking at the issue of full-time staffing ratios as well as the growing use of precarious, contract positions at colleges, considered one of the union’s key issues.

Partial-load instructors teach anywhere from seven to a maximum 12 hours each week.

Faculty were also seeking academic freedom, which one official from OPSEU called the “core — it is the crux — around our issue of quality education.” The colleges, however, had accused the union of wanting “academic control.”

“This is a disaster … it’s such a mess,” said Charles Pascal, a former college president who is now an education professor at the University of Toronto, blaming province-wide bargaining for the strife.

“When you have province-wide bargaining, and something going on at some of the colleges, those issues become low common denominator issues at the bargaining table, and it wags the whole system,” he said. “It’s not a good way to go.”

He said underfunding and local leadership issues are to blame. Staffing ratios, he added, vary from school to school, with some with a reasonable 60 per cent full-time and 40 per cent part-time, but “the colleges that have balanced the books on the backs of part-timers, that’s the fault of local leadership.”

With files from Andrea Gordon

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