Bargaining teams representing Ontario's 24 public colleges and the union that represent faculty members will meet Thursday in a bid to avoid a strike that will impact 250,000 students across the province.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has threatened to walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. Friday if the two sides can't reach a tentative deal.
The union represents 16,000 faculty members at the province's 24 colleges.
Their contract expired September 30, and since December, they've been engaged in a work-to-rule campaign.
"Faculty rejected the College Employers Council's forced offer in February, but extended an olive branch by agreeing to go to binding arbitration to settle outstanding issues without labour disruption," said JP Hornick, the chair of OPSEU's bargaining team. "The CEC has refused until now, but if real progress is being made at the table, faculty are open to extending the strike deadline."
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas said he was cautiously optimistic a deal could be reached ahead of the strike deadline.
A strike would impact 250,000 students across the province.
The last strike at Ontario's public colleges lasted five weeks.