The man who heads the bargaining team for 9,100 striking Ontario college teachers and faculty said he is "encouraged" by today’s invitation to meet tomorrow with the minister responsible for post-secondary education.

“Finally, we have somebody willing to listen,” Ted Montgomery shouted out to about 2,000 teachers at a noon-hour rally at Dundas Square in downtown Toronto. "I’m proud of you, but deeply saddened we have been driven to this," he told them.

The invitation to meet came from Colleges and Universities Minister Chris Bentley, but the invitation was greeted skeptically by organizers of the rally.

Bentley is asking officials from OPSEU and the College Compensation and Appointments Council to meet him separately tomorrow to discuss the strike.

Matt Jackson, president of the Ontario College Student Alliance, said the province — which has said it plans to allow tuition fees to increase — needs to put more money on the table to help bring an end to the strike.

“While the McGuinty government has made a historic investment in post-secondary school education, the college system is still suffering from years of neglect and cuts of previous governments,” he told a news conference.

“Ontario college students still remain the lowest funded in Canada on a per-student basis — this is absolutely unacceptable.”

Ontario provides about $2,100 less each year for a college student than it does for a university student, he added.

The rallying teachers carried placards and sang songs in cold but sunny conditions in the square today. They talked of not getting "respect" and shouted out "shame" to the government for allowing the impasse to drag on.

Teachers have been on strike since March 7, with the key issue being teacher workload and class size.

Signs displayed the word "Quality" of education, which is the teachers’ message they want to carry to Premier Dalton McGuinty who, they feel, has turned his back on college teachers.

Montgomery, who is the head of bargaining for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), said in an interview that while he is encouraged by Bentley’s invitation, he is also wary of whether the government is committed to ending the walkout.

"I’m very encouraged, but it will be interesting to see what the content of the talks is," said Montgomery.

"If the minister says simply, 'How are things going?’ then we’re wasting our time. If he says it’s time to move to a settlement position, then that’s what we want to hear. That’s what we’ve wanted to hear all along."

Bentley says he’ll give both sides his “candid assessment” of the strike and work to find ways to reach a conclusion.

The minister says it’s essential to meet both sides due to concern over the impact of the strike on students.

Rick Miner, chairman of the colleges’ committee of presidents, says students are the first priority and it’s time to resolve the strike and get everyone back into the classroom.

The strike has kept around 150,000 students from their classes.

In their protest at the Legislature today, students set up a giant chessboard - a prop to illustrate their opposition to being pawns in the dispute.

The colleges have promised that the students will not lose their school year which, under normal circumstances, would be drawing to a close next month.

College officials have said managers will teach courses if necessary.

Montgomery scoffed at that notion during the rally, telling the teachers that such a promise cheapens the work teachers do and pointed to various Internet sites that offer diplomas with little or no work.

"Students deserve real teachers who teach real courses," he shouted out as the teachers cheered.

Terry Downey, executive-vice-president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, an affiliate of OPSEU, told the crowd that although Bentley has asked to meet, the teachers should not let their guard down.

She encouraged teachers to keep up the pressure until the deal is signed.

She said it’s "shameful" that teachers have been without a contract for six months.

There were no visible signs at the OPSEU rally that the students are upset with the teachers. OPSEU organizers said the students are more upset with the government than with the teachers.

"The students support our cause," Montgomery said, while allowing, "they don’t support the action of strike quite often, although there are a number that do. We’ve received thousands of emails from students. A lot of them are angry, but a great many of them support the same issues we support. More time with their teachers. Less crowded classrooms."

A former student who is now an executive member of OPSEU, Nancy Pridham, told the crowd that she was caught in a similar strike in 1984 when she attended Loyola College in Peterborough as a nursing student. And she feared losing her year.

She had to take classes in the summer once the strike was resolved in order to get her year.

She doesn’t want that to happen to students this year. Yet she remembers being in support of the teachers then while living in fear of losing her year.

"I remember going out and supporting the teachers," she said. "This is not small matter (this rally and strike). It’s not a whim," Pridham said. "It’s about the future of the education system."

With files from Canadian Press