By Sue Epstein/The Star-Ledger

EDISON — Negotiations between Middlesex County College in Edison and its full time faculty have broken down and both sides are asking for a state mediator to help them reach a new contract.

Patricia Payne, the president of the Middlesex County College Faculty Federation, Local 1940, of the American Federation of Teachers, said after the last session, “we declared an impasse.”

“The impasse was mutually agreed to by both sides,” Payne said.

She said the next step is for the union to file a notice with the Public Employment Relations Commission, or PERC, that the two sides are at an impasse and are asking for a state mediator to join the negotiations.

Payne said the union, which represents 187 faculty members, took a strike vote earlier this month, but “I see that as a very last resort.”

“We are far, far away from that point yet,” she said. “The vote is just a step in the process.”

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