'It's about time': End to college strike finally in sight

Algonquin College students and instructors say they're elated and relievednow that an end to the province-wide college strike isin sight.

"It feels like the battle is over," said Neil Hunter, an Algonquin College animation instructor outon the picket line Thursday night. "It's been a pretty hard slog."

Hours earlier, Ontario Premier KathleenWynnesaid her government would table back-to-work legislation to end the labour dispute, now in its fifth week.

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The announcement came after talks between the College Employer Council and theunion representing striking workers again ended in an impasse.

It's expected the government will ask the legislature to meet Friday afternoon, so it can sit throughout the weekend until the back-to-worklegislation is passed.

Hunter said while he would have liked both parties to reach an agreement on their own,he's just glad the strike is poised to end.

"I'll be happy to go back to work next week, for sure," he said. "Anxious to see my students."

Deep divisions

While the strike may be coming to an end, Adele Yamadaworries about the deep divisions it has exposed between college faculty and their employer.

"We are so adversarial and we shouldn't be,"said Yamada, who teaches communications full-time at Algonquin College. "We've got a lot of really important work we need to do to try to revitalize and revamp the way we do education in this province."

Talks between the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the College Employer Council repeatedly failed over the last five weeks.

Among the issues atthe bargaining tablewere salary increases, improved benefits, measures to address concerns affecting part-time workersand faculty's ability to make decisions as to how they teach their courses.

Students hardest hit

For students like Renee Ellison, the last five weeks have taken their toll.

"Not being able to be in the classroom, to be surrounded by your peers all the time, it's caused a lot of frustration and stress," said Ellison, a business administration student at Algonquin College.

Ellison said she fully supportedher instructors' decision to strike, but can't help but feel that students got the short end of the deal. She said she's unsure how the strike will affecttheir semester.

Still, she welcomedyesterday's announcement, hopeful thatshe and her peers can finally put the strike behind them.

"God, it's going to feel good to go back to class," she said."It's about time."