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When Kim Thompson scrolls through Facebook or watches the news, the hot topic is the teachers’ strikes that are closing schools sporadically across the province.

She’s been walking the picket line, too.

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An early childhood educator at Steve MacLean Public School, Thompson works alongside the teacher in a kindergarten class, guiding kids as they paint, play with blocks and learn their letters.

But the public doesn’t hear as much about Thompson and other school support staff who are among the education workers engaged in contract disputes.

Even the name of Thompson’s union — the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation — obscures the fact that about a third of its 60,000 members work at a wide variety of other jobs. They include office administrators, custodians, social workers, IT staff, library technicians and educational assistants who work with special-needs children.

The other three unions staging job actions have fewer support staff members. Overall about 12 per cent of education workers involved in the current disputes are not teachers.