School support workers serve strike notice for Monday in Saanich, B.C.

Support staff in British Columbia'sSaanichschool district have served 72-hour strike notice.

The strike would involve about 500 workers in the Canadian Union of Public Employees local 441 who are education assistants, youth and family counsellors, or provide technical support, transportation, maintenance and other services.

A union statement says the notice was served after two unsuccessful mediation sessions earlier this month.

Local president Dean Coates says they're disappointed a deal couldn't be reached and their goal has always been to come to agreement without disrupting students and families inSaanich.

Coates says the sticking point is that their members have received substantially lower wages for decades compared with their counterparts in neighbouring southern Vancouver Island districts.

"We do not take job action lightly but we need to be able to meet the needs of our families as well," Coates said.

Dave Eberwein, the superintendent of schools at the Saanich School District, said the workers were "an extremely important part of our district and how we operate."

"As a school district, we have a finite amount of money we can bargain with," Eberwein said.

"There is some wiggle room with regards to how the money we have available to us can be allocated and we're open to discuss that and we're available at any time."

The union says its members will start job action on Monday.