The Yukon Teachers' Association (YTA) and the Public Service Commission will head to binding arbitration as early as next month, it was announced late this morning.

The sides will attempt to hammer out a new collective agreement that parties failed achieved after negotiations broke down last September; an impasse that two days of mediation this month failed to break.

More than 92 per cent of the YTA's 750 members participated in yesterday's vote.

The ballot offered the territory's educators two options – arbitration or conciliation – the latter which could have led to strike action.

A breakdown of the voting results was not made available.

"The YTA membership gave (us) clear direction that they wanted to go to arbitration and not conciliation as the next step in resolving the outstanding collective bargaining issues,” association president Katherine Mackwood said in a statement.

The teachers' union and the government remain at loggerheads over wages.

While the union is demanding a nine-per-cent salary hike over two years, the government has offered 1.2 per cent annually, according to reports.

Mackwood could not be reached for further comment about the vote prior to press time this afternoon.

Public Service Commissioner Pat Daws neither confirmed nor denied the reports on what the government offered.

Prior to the union and the Public Service Commission walking away from the bargaining table in September 2009, Daws declared the two parties "were not in the same settlement zones.”

The only time teachers' union members withdrew their services happened during the early 2000s, on a rotational basis.

Educators in the territory have been without a collective agreement since June 30, 2009.

The Yukon's teachers are already among the highest-paid in Canada enjoying an entry-level wage of $57,398 annually; nearly $20,000 more than the equivalent position in British Columbia.

Teachers would likely have trouble garnering public support for a strike over wages with the combination of a national economy struggling out of recession and the failing grade Auditor General Sheila Fraser gave the Education department in a report delivered in January 2009.

However, labour leaders and Yukon Employees' Union (YEU) members who work for the government are likely keeping close tabs on the current battle between the Public Service Commission and teachers' union.

The YEU is currently in "pre-bargaining” stages ahead of negotiating a new collective agreement for more than 3,400 government employees it represents, as that deal expired Dec. 31, 2009.

Both the previous YEU and YTA collective agreements provided nine-per-cent pay increases over their three-year terms.

Laurie Butterworth, the YEU president, would not comment for this story but Daws told the Star that money matters are not yet on the table in talks with the union.

"We haven't entered any discussions with the union about that, but there's been discussions on technical issues ... hours of work, things that are non-monetary,” said Daws.

After the Yukon Teachers' Labour Relations Board is notified of the union's decision to enter arbitration, both the YTA and the Public Service Commission will be asked to nominate an arbitrator.