Wednesday was the most recent strike deadline for Ontario college teachers, but classes will continue for the foreseeable future pending a recount of the vote on the colleges' latest offer.

The union representing 9,000 college instructors, counsellors and librarians issued a statement late last week that it has postponed the strike deadline "indefinitely" until the final results are in.

The Ontario Labour Relations Board is scheduled to conduct an official count on Feb. 24. Unofficial results of a Feb. 10 vote showed the contract passed with 51.25 per cent of the vote among college instructors, counsellors and librarians — a margin of just 210 ballots among 8,361.

However, that did not include more than 350 mail-in ballots as well as an extra 141 ballots that were set aside because the voters were not on the voters' list, according to the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

That could mean they voted at a different college from the one where they were listed, said Ted Montgomery, who is on the bargaining committee for the union.

The union is also dealing with the labour board over complaints that some members who requested mail-in ballots did not receive them, Montgomery added Wednesday.

Possible strike date not yet considered

When asked when a possible strike could be expected if the recount shows faculty rejected the offer, he responded: "We haven't considered that as of yet."

A strike would disrupt the studies of more than 200,000 full-time students at 24 colleges across the province.

Meanwhile, the colleges are waiting for the result of the vote, said spokesman David Scott, who had not heard of any issues with the vote.

The vote on what the colleges called their final offer was held by the labour board after a request from the College Compensation and Appointments Council, the provincial agency that bargains on behalf of the colleges.

It included a 5.9 per cent salary hike over three years and boosted the maximum salary for employees to a little more than $102,000.

However, the union had recommended rejecting the offer, saying it did not do enough to address issues of workload and academic freedom.