As talks continue to stall in the ongoing faculty strike, Georgian College students are learning their fall semester will be extended.

Maryann Fifiled, academic vice president for Georgian, stated in a letter to students that the fall semester will extended into the week of Dec. 18.

If the strike continues, the college will extend the semester into January.

“We have tried to do this without extending the semester. However, as the strike enters its fourth week, we now know a semester extension will be required,” she stated.

“Our focus is to give students the opportunity to complete the semester and academic year, without compromising quality or creating unreasonable workloads.”

On Monday, the College Employer Council called on Ontario’s Labour Relations Board to schedule a vote on a final contract offer. They want the union to suspend the strike for five to 10 days in order to organize the vote.

"It's basically a forced offer that is the same offer that they could of given us back in September. It's taken away all of the negotiations, the advances that we made in those negotiations and we stand firmly believing that this is not good for the students," says Anita Arvast, chief steward for OPSEU Local 350.

However, the college calls it a good deal.

"It’s a good offer. The faculty raised a number of items, we've put a good salary package together that meets what other public sectors are getting. We address their issues for partial-load teachers and we've addressed academic freedom," says Marylynn West-Moynes, Georgian College president and CEO.  

However, Ontario Public Service Employees Union president Warren "Smokey" Thomas called the council "mean spirited" a day after the request.

Thomas instead wants the council to come back to the bargaining table. If a vote is forced, Thomas wants his members to reject it.

“They will not bow to the pressure and I stick with them.  They should not take this deal.”

OPSEU says that'll push the whole timeline to work out a new deal into December.

“Once you get that deal, you gotta have another vote that takes five to 10 days to organize and then we're talking the Christmas break.”

He says at that point, the semester would be lost.

With files from The Canadian Press.