Ontario College Strike resuming Negotiations

Negotiations will resume tomorrow, in an effort to end a strike by more than 12 000 college faculty members at Ontario’s 24 colleges.

About half a million students have been out of class since the strike started October 16th.

But the bargaining team for the colleges says it believes a settlement can be reached quickly, and classes could resume early next week.

Advanced Education Minister Deb Matthews says she`d love to see this resolved as quickly as possible.

“I am delighted that the two sides are back at the table. That’s a very good first step. It is not the final solution, though. We need to get an agreement. We need to get students back into the classroom. That’s where they want to be. The’ve been caught in the middle. And I want to tell them that we’re doing everything we can to get them back in the classroom.”

But it’s small consolation for some students, who say there’s still a long list of problems that will arise if and when classes do resume.

Mohawk College has already announced that the fall semester will be extended by one week. And depending on how long the strike continues, final exams could be held in early January.