Unless the College Employer Council and the union that represents college faculty can reach a tentative deal by Friday, classes could come to a grinding halt.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has set a strike deadline of 12:01 a.m. Friday.
A work-to-rule campaign by faculty members at all 24 public colleges in Ontario has been in place since December.
The chair of their bargaining team, JP Hornick, insisted faculty members are trying to avoid a strike but said the Council is being unreasonable.
"We haven't made any unreasonable demands, and everything we have asked for is easily achievable," he said. "You have again ramped up your threats against individual faculty and appear to be moving toward a lockout instead of negotiating a deal."
The faculty rejected a final offer from the colleges last month.
"I firmly believe we can reach a deal at the bargaining table," said OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. "I'm convinced a deal is there and that we can avoid a messy strike that is not in anybody's interests."
The last strike at Ontario colleges lasted five weeks. It was the longest college strike in Ontario history.
