School support staff ramp up job action

School support staff are ramping up their job action after negotiations with the province failed to produce a deal.

The duties the 55,000 CUPE education workers will no longer perform include refusing to submit lesson plans, clean grounds or sweep hallways.

The workers include technicians, early childhood educators, custodians, and secretaries.  They’ll also only attend  meetings and training on paid time.

Support staff have been without a contract for more than a year.

The francophone teachers’ union, Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association have all reached agreements with the province.

Public elementary school teachers have also ramped up job action in the last week, saying they can’t accept the same deal the other teachers agreed to.  Those deals included raises of 1.5% and a 1% signing bonus.