No political progress for York U strike

TORONTO, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- An Ontario provincial socialist opposition party has blocked legislation to end York University's 12-week-old teachers strike in Toronto.

Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty called an emergency legislative session Sunday to force striking faculty and teaching assistants back to work, which would have required unanimous consent, the Globe and Mail reported.

However, eight New Democratic Party members voted it down, while 65 members of the Liberal and Conservative parties voted for it, CTV News said.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton has been accusing the Liberals of allowing the dispute to drag out since it started Nov. 6, and said his parliamentary move would mean only a delay of "two or three days" before the Liberals passed back-work-legislation through normal legislative procedures, the Globe said.

Some 3,500 members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees walked off the job, and about 55,000 students haven't had any classes since at Canada's third-largest university, the report said.

Sunday night, a Toronto law firm said it was launching a class action suit against the school and called on affected students to sign in to seek tuition refunds, the Globe said.