TORONTO - College faculty are being misled if they believe rejecting a final contract offer Wednesday won't lead to a strike affecting Ontario's 200,000 full-time students, said the colleges' bargaining team.

Chief negotiator Rachael Donovan dismissed union claims Tuesday that a vote against the proposed contract could lead to further negotiations. She said the colleges can't afford any more than what they've already offered and will not return to the bargaining table.

"If they reject the vote tomorrow, it means that faculty will be going on strike," Donovan said.

"We've made it very, very clear that we will not have any further negotiations and we are not in favour of binding arbitration."

Head union negotiator Ted Montgomery said the Ontario Public Service Employees Union was still recommending the 9,000 community college teachers vote against what he calls " a terrible deal."

He said he's ready to go back to the bargaining table and enlist an arbitrator to settle the dispute if the vote is rejected by his membership Wednesday.

The union had set a strike deadline for Thursday, but later moved it to Feb. 17 to allow for more talks should the offer be voted down.

"The first thing we'll be doing after the rejection vote is contacting the mediator and say, 'Let's get together right away; let's meet all weekend -- Valentine's Day, Family Day -- let's keep working till we get a deal'," Montgomery said.

"When the results are in the pressure will all be on them," he said.

OPSEU rejected the proposed contract last month after college faculty members gave the union a 57 per cent strike mandate. But management asked that the contract be put to the teachers themselves for a vote.

Key issues for the union are workload, academic freedom and management's decision in November to impose its offer on the teachers without a vote. The union has said workload was also the top issue when college teachers went on strike for three weeks back in 2006.

Teachers opposed to a strike have set up a website at www.stopthestrike.net where they have been speaking out against the union's position.

"Our union is now suggesting that we reject the latest management offer so that they can attempt to negotiate some more concessions from management," writes creator Bill Tennant, a business professor at St. Lawrence College.

"I don't want to play games with my future or the future of my students -- I'm voting to accept what is a reasonable offer from management."

Students say they are frustrated, angry and panicked as the colleges and the faculty have not been able to resolve their issues, and want an end for to the labour unrest.

Opposition parties have also called for a resolution, but said they would have liked to have seen both sides arrive at a negotiated settlement before the dispute escalated.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak advised against a strike, saying now would be "the worst time" for job action.

"We saw some of the faculty themselves vote against striking, and I think they're on the right track," Hudak said.

Striking faculty, he added "would find themselves on the wrong side of the issue when it comes to taxpayers' view of the ability to pay."

Premier Dalton McGuinty has stayed out of the dispute, noting the province had appointed a mediator to help with the talks and declining to comment further.

"There's an important vote that's going to take place, and my preference at this point in time is to allow that to take place," he said Wednesday.