Students in this woodworking class at Algonquin College in Ottawa are among the 200,000 full-time students across Ontario who would be affected by a strike. (CBC)

About 9,000 Ontario college instructors will get the chance to vote on a contract offer already rejected by union negotiators, the Ontario Labour Relations Board decided Tuesday.

The decision came a day after the union set a Feb. 11 deadline for a strike that would curtail classes for at least 200,000 full-time students.

The leadership of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union urged members to reject the offer made by the province's 24 colleges but agreed to push back the Feb. 11 strike date so members can vote.

Ted Montgomery, the union bargaining chairman, said he is confident teachers will reject the offer, which he said contains "significant take-aways" and fails to address issues related to workload and academic freedom.

The bargaining team for the province's 24 colleges put in a request Tuesday morning to the Ontario Labour Relations Board, asking it to organize a vote for faculty on what the colleges called their final offer.

The board has not set a date for the vote.

The colleges issued their latest offer last Wednesday. 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.

"We believe the college's final offer is a fair and reasonable offer, especially in the current environment, and it is as far as we can go," said Rachel Donovan, the colleges’ bargaining team chairwoman.

"We hope faculty members conclude the colleges' offer is fair, reasonable and worthy of support."

Robin Holt, a second-career student at St. Clair College in Windsor, said he’s glad the teachers will have the chance to vote on the contract proposal.

“I hope it gets resolved so we can all get back to work and get on with our studies,” Holt said.

The union represents 9,000 instructors, counsellors and librarians. A strike vote in January passed with the support of 57 per cent of those taking part.

Disagree over arbitration

In a statement announcing the strike deadline, the union said it was willing to send all outstanding issues to binding arbitration if a settlement could not be reached.

"If that happens, a strike can be avoided," the statement said.

But Donovan rejected binding arbitration, noting the decision of a third party would change the economic circumstances of the colleges.

The union wants more paid time for lesson preparation and for helping students outside class. It says this is consistent with the recommendations released last March by an independent task force. The task force was established to deal with workload issues brought up in 2006, the last time the union went on strike. That disruption lasted three weeks.

Bernie Nawrocki, the president of Local 138 in Windsor, said the latest offer from management doesn’t address the workload issues identified in the 2006 report.

“There seems to be some issues in regards to abiding by all the elements within that report," Nawrocki said about the most recent offer.

The employees' most recent contract expired in August.

with files from The Candian Press