TORONTO -- The union representing 55,000 Ontario education workers says members are prepared to escalate job actions during the first week of school in an effort to pressure the provincial government in contract talks.

About 400 Canadian Union of Public Employees delegates met in Toronto on Saturday to plan job action strategies and voted "overwhelmingly" in favour of escalating job actions.

The union plans to begin with work-to-rule before increasing to rotating strikes and eventually ramping up to a provincewide strike.

CUPE says the workers -- which include educational assistants, custodians, early childhood educators, and speech pathologists -- have been without a contract for year.

The province has tentative deals with English Catholic teachers and high school teachers, but is still in negotiations with Francophone and elementary teachers.