Back-to-work legislation to end Ontario college strike delayed until Friday

Premier Kathleen Wynne announced Thursday she would legislate striking college faculty back to work, starting the process of bringing the nearly five-week-long labour disruption to an end.

In a statement, Premier Wynne said “under the proposed legislation that we’re introducing today, all outstanding issues would be referred to binding mediation-arbitration. We urge both opposition parties to unanimously support our legislation, so that students and faculty can return to class on Monday morning.”

Wynne asked both the opposition Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats to vote with the government to pass the legislation quickly. However, it appears the NDP refused to support several motions put forth by both the Liberals and Conservatives to end debate on the matter that was before the legislature and introduce the back-to-work order.

The legislation is now scheduled to be introduced Friday afternoon and its possible students could be back in the classroom by Monday morning.

The back-to-work order comes after the premier asked the College Employer Council, which represents the province’s 24 colleges, and the union representing striking faculty to return to the bargaining table after workers voted overwhelmingly to reject the latest contract offer.

Wynne says after several hours of talks the parties reached an impasse.

The province’s 12,000 college professors, instructors, counsellors, and librarians have been off the job since Oct. 15, leaving some 500,000 students out of class in what is now the longest strike in the colleges’ history.

Earlier Thursday, Advanced Education Minister Deb Matthews said the government was looking at a “range of options” to get students back into the classroom. She also had sharp words for both the colleges and the union and how they’ve allowed the strike to drag on.

“I would say that both parties share the failure, and it is a failure,” she said. “Both parties need to recognize that their approach to this date has not resulted in any kind of success. They have to focus on students.”

Matthews also said that the semester can still be salvaged.

“We are approaching the time where we will start to see people with lost semesters but we are not there yet,” she said. “We need to get them back immediately so that the semester can be saved.”

The provincial government has ordered the colleges to create a fund – using savings from the strike – to help students who may be experiencing financial hardship because of the labour dispute. Advanced Education Matthews has estimated Ontario’s colleges have saved about $5 million so far.

Law firm Charney Lawyers filed a proposed class action against the 24 colleges Tuesday, saying 14 students have come forward to potentially stand as representative plaintiffs.

The notice of action alleges the colleges breached contracts with students by failing to provide vocational training and a full term of classes. It seeks full refunds for students who choose not to continue with their programs and refunds “equivalent to the value of the lost instruction” for students who do want to continue.