Government house leader Mike Murphy says that the New Brunswick legislature must meet to discuss back-to-work legislation to save the school year of college students.

"If we don't go back and have this legislation passed, it would mean that many students around the province — thousands — lose their school year," Murphy said.

The house will meet on Wednesday to discuss the legislation, he said.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1251, which includes about 500 community college custodians, corrections officers and human service counsellors, went on strike on Jan. 10.

Melissa Lafford, a second-year business student at the New Brunswick Community College's Saint John campus, said she supports the idea of back-to-work legislation.

"If it's push comes to shove and this is what has to be done, then I'm for it," Lafford told CBC News. "I wish they could come to an agreement that would please everyone, but us students, we just want to get back to school."

While only 20 per cent of the jail guards have been off the job because the work is deemed as an essential service, the striking custodians have caused a major disruption on college campuses.

The ongoing labour dispute has forced the cancellation of classes at 10 of the province's 11 community college campuses because of dirty classrooms and washrooms. Dieppe is the only campus still open, and it is operating on a half-day schedule.

Students have staged protests and met with union and government officials to ask that the dispute be resolved before the semester is lost.

"If we go back we're going to have to basically relearn what we've missed and pick up the new information as well," Lafford said.

Union refused to put offer to vote

The union wants an increase of $1.12 an hour for college custodians to bring wages in line with custodians working in the province's public schools. It also says correctional officers working in provincial jails are the lowest-paid in the country.

According to Human Resources Minister Wally Stiles, the government's offer would increase the wages of custodial workers by 18.3 per cent to $17.23 an hour by 2011 while the hourly wage for correctional officers would go from $20.52 to $25, an increase of almost 22 per cent. The offer would also provide a 12.6 per cent wage increase for human service counsellors, taking them from $16.88 an hour to $19.01 in 2011.

Talks have been at a standstill since Stiles told the union that the offer was "final," and the union refused to put it to its members for a vote.

The union has said the government's offer would match what it's demanding by the end of four years, but it wants to see the full wage increases take effect immediately.

The Conservative opposition is not commenting on whether it will back the legislation. But the party will ensure that the concerns of government workers and the students are heard during the debate, said Oromocto MLA Jody Carr.

"The government has made a poor attempt at negotiating, and they've put themselves in this position. Quite frankly, that was unnecessary," Carr said.

The Conservative caucus will be meeting Tuesday to discuss its position on the legislation, he said.

The union has not yet commented on the back-to-work legislation proposal.