CTV.ca News Staff

Ontario's colleges pledged Tuesday that their 150,000 enrolled students will be able to finish their year despite a province-wide faculty strike.

The 24 colleges are each drafting an individual plan to assure students, who fear a lost year and ruined summer job opportunities, that they have a solution.

Seneca College President Rick Miner said they would be contacting students next week.

"It will work by first concentrating on the students who are intending to graduate in June," Miner said. "We will be in contact with them early next week to talk to them about the alternatives."

No talks are scheduled between the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), who represent the striking 9,100-member faculty, and the colleges.

The teachers, counsellors and librarians on strike say class sizes are at the heart of this walkout. The union wants to see the number of students per classroom reduced from 29 to 25.

OPSEU members, in their sixth day of striking on Tuesday, told CTV Toronto that they were skeptical that the colleges could make good on today's promise.

"I don't know who's going to teach if it's not us," OPSEU member Irv Ash said from the picket line Tuesday.

Picket captain Malcolm Pearcey said if an agreement is negotiated the teachers would be committed to helping students finish the year.

"Once we have a contract and a settlement we'll do what needs to be done to salvage this semester," Pearcey said.

"If that means coming in on weekends, if it means extending the school year, whatever it takes is what we'll do."

OPSEU is planning a rally this Thursday in hopes of jump starting stalled talks.

The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) also rejected the colleges' guarantee Tuesday, calling it "meaningless."

The federation said the promise may sound good but that it is not specific enough.

Jesse Greener, a spokesman for CFS, said students need a more tailored response that includes reimbursement for extra rent and other incurred fees.