A bid to resolve the dispute collapsed after the union called for binding arbitration, said Ted Montgomery, chairman of the faculty’s bargaining team.
“If the colleges fail to respond to our request or refuse it, it can only mean that they prefer to keep the students out of class,” Montgomery told a news conference.
“No negotiated settlement is possible with the current management bargaining team in place.”
Any further delays in resolving the strike, which began March 7, could jeopardize the semester for students, he warned.
But management countered the union’s proposal to go to binding arbitration, suggesting instead final offer selection — a method by which an arbitrator must choose between the two offers.
“We are very sad and gravely disappointed that OPSEU has once again refused to negotiate a settlement with us,” said Joy Warkentin, chairwoman of the management’s bargaining team.
The management have proposed a 12.6 per cent salary increase over four years that would bring the new maximum salary of faculty to $94,277 by April 2009.
They have also committed to hire a minimum of 120 new full-time faculty, Warkentin said, but Montgomery said that would not help their goal of reducing class sizes.
Talks resumed Monday after both sides met separately with Colleges and Universities Minister Chris Bentley last week.
Before that bid at negotiation, both sides had refused to talk since the strike began.
Montgomery has said that faculty want Ontario’s colleges to hire about 10 per cent more full-time teachers each year over the next three years in an effort to reduce average class sizes to 25 students, down from a current level of 29.
Earlier Wednesday, police said no charges will be laid after a collision involving a striking teacher and a car outside a Toronto college.
Police say they don’t believe the driver committed a criminal offence in the incident that has left the 62-year-old teacher in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Det. Paul Lobsinger said the decision comes after a review of the event, which was captured on video from college surveillance cameras.
Police have said the man came into contact with the right side and hood of the car, but wouldn’t say if that meant he jumped on the vehicle.
The unidentified injured man remains in hospital with a serious head injury.