Ontario's premier won't intervene in college instructors' strike

CBC News

Ontario's premier is leaving it up to striking college instructors and management to resolve the dispute and get the 150,000 students whose school year could be in jeopardy back in the classroom.

Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday he's not getting involved and it's up to both sides to reach a settlement.

Dalton McGuinty (CP file photo)

"We'll be putting as much pressure as we can on both sides to come to the table and stay at that table, and to bargain in the interests of our students who deserve to be able to go to school," McGuinty said.

Talks have broken off between college officials and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

About 9,100 instructors walked off the job at 24 colleges after the strike deadline of midnight Monday passed, leaving students without classes.

Chris Bentley, minister of training, colleges and universities, said he'll speak with the Ontario's Colleges Relations Commission to get an idea of when the school year could be jeopardized before deciding whether to get involved.

OPSEU negotiator Ted Montgomery said time is running out to settle the dispute.

"Two weeks would seem to be a more appropriate time when there might be some reason to begin to be concerned about the students' year," he said.

He said both sides are close on issues such as wages and benefits, but they are still far apart when it comes to workload, with the union saying there are too many students per instructor.

"We're not holding anyone hostage," said Montgomery. "The faculty and the students are both being held hostage by a management that refuses to negotiate."

Rick Miner, head of the presidents' committee, which was negotiating with the union, said colleges have an enviable student-instructor ratio.

"The college system is tailored to small class size, more direct contact between faculty and students, so if you looked at the distribution and enrolments in colleges, you'd find that the vast majority of courses would have enrolments somewhere around 20 to 40."