The union representing striking teaching staff at York University now says it won't pursue legal action if the Ontario government passes legislation to force them back to work.

Union officials had said earlier Wednesday they were preparing a legal challenge to the back-to-work legislation, saying it wouldn't resolve the issues at the heart of the long strike.

Some 50,000 students saw classes cancelled after 3,400 teaching assistants, contract faculty and graduate assistants walked off the job.

Later in the day, however, union officials released a statement indicating they had decided not to fight in court.

The decision was made to get the tens of thousands of students back to their classes, which have been cancelled since Nov. 6, said Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903 spokesman Tyler Shipley.

Wading into a legal challenge would have just created more uncertainty for students at Canada's third-largest university, Shipley said.

"They've already had to wait nearly three months to have their classes resume, and to put them in a situation where there would be more uncertainty,... it just didn't seem like the right move."

Shipley stressed again, however, that the legislation will not resolve the key issues.

He maintained the union did have grounds to take the matter to court despite legal experts suggesting a court would be unlikely to grant the request.

"We are being legislated back to work on the basis that there was a deadlock between the two sides, and we simply do not believe that was the case," Shipley said.

The union said it made every effort to settle the dispute, even dropping its wage demands when a top provincial mediator was dispatched last week by Premier Dalton McGuinty in a last-ditch effort to end the strike.

But the union's last offer was still more than double the university's offer for settlement, York president Mamdouh Shoukri countered.

About 100 students held a rally outside the provincial legislature on Wednesday morning, calling on the province to get classes resumed quickly.

Only the 10-member New Democratic caucus has been opposing the back-to-work bill. The legislation is expected to pass on Thursday, meaning students will probably return to class on Monday.

Shipley said the union won't authorize or endorse its members taking any kind of illegal strike action.

Catherine Divaris, a fourth-year York kinesiology student, said she was "ecstatic" about the thought of returning to classes on Monday.

"Another delay would have been detrimental to our school year," she said. "I don't think we could have done with another delay, and if anything, it would have just really, really hindered next year and even future careers for undergraduate students."

Divaris said the university has told students that if classes resume Monday, they'll be done with their exams by June 2.

About 5,000 students were able return this week to attend courses taught by tenured professors under a special deal with the university.

With files from the Canadian Press