TORONTO -- The union representing employees with the Canadian Hearing Society says talks aimed at ending an Ontario-wide strike have broken down.

In a statement, the Canadian Union of Public Employees says it could not reach a deal with the hearing society after four days of bargaining.

The unionized workers, who have been on strike since March 6, include counsellors, literacy instructors, audiologists, speech language pathologists and interpreters.

They work at 24 Canadian Hearing Society offices across Ontario.

The society has said it is trying to reach a deal that will position the organization well for the future to provide services and programs to its clients.

The society is a non-profit organization that says it provides services, products and information that remove barriers to communication for people who are culturally deaf, deafened and hard of hearing.