The president of a union representing more than 20,000 inside municipal workers says his members intend to “ramp up” its work-to-rule campaign as contract negotiations with the city “continue to slow.”

But when pressed for details about when and how the escalated job action would unfold, CUPE 79 President Tim Maguire remained relatively vague.

“We will look at areas as we go through this, what tasks under job descriptions don’t need to be done, outside the job descriptions that don’t need to be done,” he said at a news conference Wednesday.

“We are going to continue to build it and weigh our options as we go through.”

The work-to-rule campaign was launched on Monday after contract talks over the weekend failed to produce a deal.

The job action means workers will take all breaks and refrain from doing any extra duties beyond their job descriptions. City services such as daycare centres and permit services continue to operate.

When asked if the work-to-rule campaign is having any effect on the public, Maguire used part-time aquatics instructors as an example of how it could have an impact.

“Our part-time aquatics instructors, the people that instruct our kids on how to swim, they fill out report cards and they’re given 15 minutes at the end of their shift to fill out those report cards,” he said.

“They are going to do what they can, but if they are not able to finish those remarks in that 15 minutes, they will either not do it, or they’ll ask for overtime to complete doing those tasks.”

During the update Wednesday, Maguire also addressed the differences between his union and CUPE Local 416, the union representing the city’s outside workers which recently reached a tentative deal with the city.

“I want to make absolutely clear that the differences between our bargaining units, the services our members provide, and therefore the deals that need to apply,” Maguire said.

“The differences are there today and they are going to be there on Thursday, they are going to be there on Friday.”

Maguire’s comment came after Mayor John Tory suggested that the contract with CUPE 79 can’t be “too far off” from the tentative agreement that was reached with outside workers.