By RACHEL PRIVETT
Staff Writer
The numbers are in and college professors, librarians and counsellors in Ontario have had their say.
The only thing left to figure out is what they have said and how it will affect 200,000 college students across the province.

After faculty took to the polls Wednesday to vote on the 24 Ontario colleges’ final offer province-wide, 51.25 per cent accepted the offer. This 51.25 per cent comes with a margin of only 210 votes and there are still about 500 ballots that have yet to be counted.

At Niagara College, of the 374 faculty members eligible to vote, 318 did, bringing the college’s voter turnout to 85.03 per cent.

Niagara rejected the college’s offer by 54 per cent, while 46 per cent voted to accept.

Sherri Rosen, president of OPSEU Local 242 at Niagara College says, "I’m very pleased and proud of Niagara College faculty. In my view they gathered the information and examined it carefully and saw the offer for the smoke and mirrors that it was."

In a memo to Niagara College faculty Dan Patterson says, "we understand that the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) will be completing an official count over the next two weeks, at which time we will have the final results. We are pleased that so many faculty saw this offer as fair and reasonable. We will await the final results and are hopeful that they will continue to support management’s final offer."

"I wanted to know this morning, everyone wanted to know," says Bruce Harper vice-president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 242 at Niagara College.

"Colleges claim they won, OPSEU says it’s too close to call. We’ll have to wait for the OLRB," says Harper.

Ted Montgomery, chair of the OPSEU negotiating team, says there are still "340 mail ins" (ballots) that have not been counted and "140 segregated ballots," for those who voted that were not on the voters’ list or voted at a different campus, yet to be counted in the final total.

"Segregated votes haven’t been counted, doing so would affect the outcome," says Harper.

Montgomery also noted that the final number does not include "four colleges [that are] not reporting," and that "14 [colleges] voted for rejection [of the 24], but those that voted to accept were in bigger numbers."

For students, "At this point, I’m optimistic that the vote will stay accepting the offer and I have found that students feel relieved by the final vote but will continue to wait until we hear about the official results," says Niagara College Student Administrative Council President Jacquelynn Perzul.

The final offer on Jan. 27 provides a 5.9 per cent pay increase over three years bringing the maximum salary for professors to $102,186 by Sept. 1, 2011.

The colleges sought and secured taking the offer directly to union members for a vote through the Ministry of Labour, as allowed by legislation. OPSEU leaders had declined to allow a member-vote on the offer, having rejected it, asking for arbitration instead.

The colleges declined arbitration.

In order for a strike to happen OPSEU would need to give official notice to council and there would need to be "five calendar days," between the strike date and the notice, says Jim Garner, director of human resources for Niagara College.

Montgomery never saw a strike coming.

"I don’t think it will go to a strike. I never thought it would go to a strike. I think a settlement is possible," says Montgomery.

In a Feb. 9 letter to faculty Niagara College President Dan Patterson says, "[Feb. 10] final offer vote is critical for the future of our college, our students and our communities."

"Contrary to what has been reported, voting against the offer will not result in further negotiations, a modified position from the colleges or voluntary arbitration," says Patterson. "The colleges have gone as far as they can. Rejecting the final offer, unfortunately, means faculty will be on strike."

"The losers are the students of the future. The colleges could become better places than they are," says Montgomery.

The Feb. 17 strike date will be moved if a decision is not reached before then.