Human Resources Minister Wally Stiles is asking that the province's striking custodians, corrections officers and human service counsellors return to the bargaining table immediately.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1251 went on strike on Jan. 10.

Students at the New Brunswick Community College in Woodstock held a press conference on Monday asking the government to resume stalled negotiations with striking school custodians before their campus is forced to close.

The strike has forced the Woodstock campus to close its gymnasium, cafeteria, many washrooms and part of its student lounge.

The New Brunswick college's administration has also cut school days in half at its Fredericton, Miramichi, Moncton, Saint John, Woodstock, Bathurst, Dieppe and Acadian Peninsula campuses in an effort to keep clutter and garbage to a minimum. Part of the student population attends classes in the morning while the other half goes in the afternoon.

The unsanitary conditions may soon keep students out of the classrooms entirely, said Kaitlyn Dean, a representative of the student union's health and safety board.

There haven't been any negotiations between the two sides of the labour dispute since early November and none are yet scheduled.

"The strike's been going on for more than a week now and we have heard nothing as far as what's going on provincially and we just really want to get back to class," Dean said. "If people aren't sitting down at the table, that can't happen."

In a press release on Tuesday afternoon, Stiles said the school year for the colleges is not yet in jeopardy but that the ongoing strike is disrupting classes and other government operations.

Both sides need to get back together to explore options to end the dispute, said the release.

"At this point in time we just want to get this problem resolved for the students' sake," Stiles told CBC News.

"I have asked the union for the past few weeks to look at the report prepared by commissioner Brian Bruce in relation to the negotiations between government and the union," Stiles said. "I am asking CUPE 1251 to see if further progress can be made at the bargaining table."

But there are no conditions attached to the current request to resume bargaining, Stiles said.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, the union had not yet publicly responded to Stiles's request.

Recommendations from commissioner

The Department of Human Resources appointed Bruce to examine the dispute in September.

The department said it is prepared to use the commissioner's recommendations as a good guide for negotiations but the union previously rejected the report.

Human Resources Minister Wally Stiles previously told CBC News the report goes a long way toward resolving the impasse.

"There was a lot of issues that CUPE 1251 has that have been addressed in that report," Stiles said. "I urge the union to sharpen their pencils, and come back to the table and take a real hard look at that report."

In December, union members voted 90 per cent in favour of a strike. The local's collective agreement expired in June 2007 and the union is fighting to align its salaries more closely with similar jobs in other provinces.

Approximately 500 correctional workers, community college custodians and human service counsellors in the province are on the picket lines. Only 20 per cent of the correctional officers are allowed to strike because of safety issues.

The union says its custodians earn $1.12 less an hour than public school custodians while the correctional officers working in the provincial jails are the lowest paid in the country.

"When you have a custodian who works in a community college who makes [$1.12] less per hour than a custodian who's working two blocks away in a public school, doing the exact same work for the exact same employer, there is something wrong with that," said Louis Arseneau, president of Local 1251.

Seeking 'similar salary'

But unless the striking janitors return to work, Dean said, she suspects the Woodstock campus may be forced to shut its doors by the end of the week.

Students are concerned that they are going to lose their academic year, said Woodstock campus principal Bill Best.

"There's a lot of questions and as I meet them in the hall and talk to them it's a matter of them really wanting to know when the building is going to close," Best said. "I keep re-enforcing that we don't know when that is, it's a day-by-day decision and we have to figure out how long we can keep the building open."

The same union local went on strike in 2003 and was out for 22 days. Colleges remained open for 20 days without custodians.

"We've been fighting for over six years now to get a similar salary to people who work in this province and do the exactly job we do and get paid a fair amount more than we are. So that's where the problem is. This is our second strike in four years," Arseneau told CBC News.

"Prior to that, this local had never gone on strike, period. But the situation is getting bad. We have a serious problem and the problem is going to have to be fixed."

The union is prepared to strike as long as it takes, he said.