Large picket lines occupied the front entrance of Centennial College’s Progress Campus in Scarborough on Monday after negotiations between the school’s bargaining agent and the union representing workers remained at a standstill.Approximately 250 demonstrators showed up at the picket line, near Progress Road and Highway 401, prompting road closures in the area and TTC bus diversions on two routes.“Despite three days of mediation, talks broke down again last week when the employer and College Presidents declared an impasse after refusing any job security language that would clear the path to a settlement and end the strike,” a spokesperson for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) said in a statement.“The employer is failing to address job security language to resolve a strike that comes amidst one of the largest mass layoffs in the province’s history where 10,000 college workers have already been laid off, hundreds of programs have been suspended or cancelled, and new campus closures announced in recent weeks,” the union added. “The entire college system is at risk.”Meanwhile, officials at the other side of the bargaining table are pointing fingers and criticizing the union for causing disorder.“OPSEU’s recent actions, disrupting operations at Centennial College and other colleges across the province, place its objectives ahead of students’ needs,” the College Employer Council (CEC) wrote in a statement issued Monday afternoon. “Colleges fully respect employees’ constitutional right to strike and picket as a means of expressing their concerns. However, obstructing students’ safe access to campuses crosses a line that is not in the student’s best interests,” it added.CEC is the government mandated bargaining agent for Ontario’s 24 publicly funded colleges and deals directly with unions in negotiating collective agreements.“CEC has expressed deep frustration after the OPSEU bargaining team abruptly reversed course during mediation talks, derailing progress and prolonging the strike,” the bargaining agent added. At its recent bargaining meeting, CEC accused the workers’ union of tabling “ultimatum proposals” which it says “went back on real progress made during mediation.”Among the proposals is a request to ban “all contracting out, unless explicitly approved by the union,” and restrictions on deans speaking to students about issues like financial aid or study techniques.CEC claims that the workers’ current agreement already provides protection in those areas and that additional changes would mean “an administrator could not troubleshoot an issue with their laptop, or a dean could not advise a student about financial aid.”“Separating tasks by work groups would grind operations to a halt and leave colleges with no ability to respond to student needs in real time,” CEC explained. “This kind of bargaining — where the union moves backward and sets ultimatums — undermines the progress made.”“Negotiating against receding horizons only undoes days of progress we achieved together,” it added. “CEC has asked OPSEU to share the CEC proposals and accompanying documents with the full-time support staff membership so they can see the full scope of what is being offered.”Meanwhile, OPSEU says striking workers are “fighting to stem the bleed” amid drastic cuts and to “protect the future of the campus services and supports students need.”More coordinated actions are expected on more college campuses in the GTA throughout this week.