The College Employer Council, representing Ontario's public colleges, said it is shocked the union representing its faculty and staff has requested a no-board report from the Ministry of Labour.
The CEC says the two sides agreed to continue bargaining with a mediator just a few days ago.
The request will put the Ontario Public Service Employees Union members in a strike position early in the new year.
"A strike at Ontario's colleges is wholly unnecessary and causes uncertainty and disruption for students and faculty in a time of financial instability," said CEC CEO Graham Lloyd. "Throughout this bargaining process, our goal has remained the same. We want to keep our students learning and faculty in the classroom. That's why we initially proposed binding arbitration and continue to urge OPSEU to agree."
The union is seeking a reduction in classroom teaching time and a maximum of 29 weeks of available teaching time in a year. Doctor Laurie Rancourt, the Chair of the CEC management bargaining team, said that would reduce class time by 25 per cent. OPSEU is also seeking a wage increase for members.
A report from the Workload Task Force in 2022 said workloads have increased, with partial-load faculty performing duties outside of their contracts and unpaid overtime for counsellors and librarians.
According to the council, the union's last settlement offer amounted to more than $1-billion in new annual costs and an increase of more than 55 per cent of total academic costs to the colleges.
In October, the union said colleges were experiencing historic profits with a system-wide surplus of $1-billion this year on top of $1.3-billion in provincial investment.
Acting chair of the college faculty team, Michelle Arbour, accused colleges of "rapidly expanding a corporate, for-profit model of education."
In a strike vote in October, OPSEU's 15,000 members at Ontario colleges voted 79 per cent in favour of striking if the council didn't accept the union's demands.
Faculty, librarians, and counsellors have worked without a contract since the last one expired on October 1.
Officials from the union and the council are scheduled to meet again on January 6 and 7.