Catholic high school students in WIndsor Essex held a peaceful walkout today to bring attention to how they are being affected by a recent strike by support staff.

Students at St. Anne Cathoilic High School walked out around 11 a.m. Friday in hopes of sparking talks between the two sides.

Maggie Pinsonneault tells CTV Windsor “we don’t just like sitting in a cafeteria, not having classes to go to… enough is enough. We need a resolution, we need a settlement.”

St. Anne students were not alone. Students at St. Joseph’s and F.J Brennan also staged mass walkouts.

Antonio Roye thinks their demonstration will work. He says the students “are giving up a little bit of our education for a bigger part of our education.”

Catholic School Board Communications Co-ordinator Stephen Fields says they encouraged the students to stay in class “for valuable class time”, and are happy the majority didn’t walk out.

Friday marks the fifth day of the strike since it began on Monday.

There are 370 support workers with the board including office assistances, IT workers, custodians, and clerical workers.

Despite board assurances several delays have been reported as a result of picket lines over the last few days. Some teachers have not been able to get to class on time.

Unifor local 2458 President Bruce Dickie says “we support the students and we support what they’re doing.”

Fields says the school board tabled its offer on October 7th and has not received a written counter proposal. He insists they are prepared to bargain, and not go to arbitration.

The union says that wages have been frozen since 2012. Both bargaining units have been without a contract since Aug. 31, 2014.

A mediator has now been appointed to help both sides return to the negotiating table.