By RACHEL PRIVETT Staff Writer

The faculty has spoken.And faculty members have said no to a strike.The Ontario Labour Relations Board confirmed Wednesday that a 51.45 per cent majority accepted the colleges’ offer in a vote held province wide.

“I’m pretty disappointed about the narrow miss,” says Scott Teibert, a second-year student in the Computer Programmer Analyst program.The colleges and union are still on different sides regarding the final results.

“I’m pleased with the results,” says Dan Patterson, president of Niagara College. “This was a very important decision.”“We didn’t expect results to change,” says Ted Montgomery, chair of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) negotiating team.

Even with the additional 500 ballots that were counted the majority that accepted the offer only rose 0.2 per cent. As Montgomery pointed out there were “250 swing votes,” out of the 8,000 ballots cast.“The fact that the faculty is so divided about the issue is pretty startling considering the very reasonable deal laid out by the colleges,” says Teibert.

The final offer that was put forth to college faculty on Jan. 27 provides a 5.9 per cent pay increase over three years.OPSEU wanted a 2.5 per cent pay increase per year over three years.With the pay increase the maximum salary for professors is $102,186 by September 2011.The accepted offer also provides workload improvements.

Sherri Rosen, president of OPSEU Local 242 at Niagara College, feels that the “colleges took [the] low moral ground,” with their final offer.

“Overall I’m disappointed that colleges missed an opportunity to fix things for students in the future,” says Montgomery adding this now means an additional two years without a solution.Montgomery also feels that there will now be “festering issues between parties.”A Feb. 10 vote on the final offer presented by the colleges saw professors, librarians and counsellors across Ontario vote 51.25 per cent in favour of accepting the offer.

There were still 300 mail-in and 141 segregated votes that had yet to be counted when that number was released.With an 85.03 per cent voter turnout, 318 of 374 Niagara College faculty voted 54 per cent to reject the final offer.“I respect people’s right to decide, “ says Patterson on Niagara College’s local’s rejection of the offer.Rosen is “happy that Niagara faculty fought through,” but is disappointed by the final results.

“It is what it is,” says Rosen.With the decision made, Patterson says Niagara College will immediately move to implement the agreement. He also emphasized “moving forward and continuing a strong team at Niagara College.

”Gord Hunchak, director of marketing and communications here, says, “I think that everyone at the college is very pleased that the offer was accepted and that we can complete the winter term without interruptions.

”With these finals numbers it marks the end of worrying for students. Students no longer need to fear that their semester will be in jeopardy.

“It’s a good day for everyone,” says Patterson.