CUPE members at school boards across the province are threatening strike action if a new deal with the province isn't reached.
The union moved to Phase 2 of their job action plan this week after three days of bargaining wrapped-up Monday.
Jodi McGill is president of CUPE local 1238 which represents about 1,000 workers at the Lambton-Kent District School Board.
"We are at a stalemate and that's why we moved to Phase 2 as we're moving through the phases," says McGill. "To hopefully not end up on the streets but that will be our end result if we can't get any action at the bargaining table."
McGill says staffing levels are a key bargaining point at the provincial level, while student violence and injuries to staff are a key local issue. She also feels that the province has given CUPE far less attention during bargaining that it has teachers across Ontario.
CUPE members have been working without a contract since August 31, 2014.
Workers affected include custodians, EAs, ECEs, secretaries, IT, speech pathologists, and maintenance staff.
Phase 1 of their job action started September 10 where members were instructed not to work through their breaks and not attend pre-work and after work meetings.
There are 55,000 CUPE workers across the province that are affected by the job action.
