The City of Hamilton has made a “final offer” to HSR employees, says the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 107.
“The Union and the Employer have just concluded 2 days or bargaining. These talks have resulted in the union being presented with a ‘Final Offer’,” reads an email sent by the ATU to its approximately 900 members at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Union says it will share the offer with its members on November 2nd and 3rd, ahead of a vote on Sunday, November 5.
“Undertanding the negotiating committee is strongly recommending a no vote,” the email continues. “A no vote will be a vote in favor [sic] of strike action.”
The ATU is seeking a seven percent pay increase in the first year of a new contract, along with working condition and benefit improvements.
The City’s largest employee union, CUPE 5167, recently ratified a new four-year contract with a 3.75 percent pay increase in the first year, with three-per-cent increases in the second, third and fourth years.
Hamilton hosts the Grey Cup game on November 19.
When Hamilton hosted the Grey Cup in 1996. HSR workers going on strike a week before the game.
As TPR reported in a February newsletter edition:
“Facing the embarrassment of hosting a Grey Cup without bus service, the Region of Hamilton-Wentworth Council quickly caved.
The six-day strike ended just in time for the Grey Cup parade.
The Region gave HSR workers a two-year sweetheart deal.
The union got nearly everything they wanted and a $1000 signing bonus to get buses back on the road. [$1717 inflation-adjusted to today]
The signing bonus was greater than a week’s salary. The top-paid bus operators made around $800 per week at the time.
Two years later, in 1998, the Region held the line on HSR wages and benefits, offering three percent on wages, and no concessions on other union demands.
A 12-week strike followed.”
There has not been an HSR strike since that 12-week shutdown in 1998/99.
In September, the City of Hamilton asked Ontario’s Ministry of Labour for a no-board notice to enable the City to lock out HSR employees.
The no-board notice was issued on October 25, allowing for a strike or lock-out to begin on October 25.
The ATU states it will not strike before its members vote on November 5th. The City states it has no intention of locking out HSR workers, but is declining to commit to any timeline not to do so.
An HSR strike will not affect DARTS service.
CORRECTED VERSION: The original version stated Hamilton last hosted the Grey Cup in 1996. This was wrong. Hamilton hosted in 2021.
Production Details v. 1.1.0 Published: October 24, 2023 Last edited: October 24, 2023 Author: Joey Coleman Edit Record v. 1.0.0 original version v. 1.1.0 correction - Hamilton last hosted the Grey Cup in 2021
For transparency, I’m a city employee, so I’m using a fake name to avoid potential retaliation for what I’m about to say.
As someone with leg problems, I still believe it imperative that we wage workers stand together and support one another in our collective action, regardless of the price we pay in recompense.
The City is using the fact that the HSR is so essential in order to pit us against each other; this way they can distract us all from their horrible mismanagement of our essential public transportation system.
The City Council doesn’t maintain the streets properly, each councillor cutting corners in the funding of roadwork in order to make their spending performance look better (Matthew Greene, for example); meanwhile the City as a whole invests in overpriced vanity projects like the LRT rather than converting the HSR fleet into electric trolley busses as a transitionary step to implementing a full streetcar/funicular/subway network – all because they care more about looking good immediately rather than ensuring a better future for their constituents in the long term.
All wages should be tied to inflation. City should address this issue, and pay it’s workers fairly.
I use a walker on the Hsr.
My disability issues can be considered invisible.
My thought is do Drivers
Deserve a raise. Maybe but only a few. There last run of a shift is dangerous. They drive like madmen – women too. Some are racist,ignorant! How many times have they parked far from the curb for me to access the curb. It breaks their heart to put down the
Low floor. NO RAISE – maybe when the bad apples straighten up their act.
I Bless the good drivers, you sleep well at night!
I take a bus to & from work everyday. It’s a 30 min ride most days. It’s much too far to walk & the thought of a cab/uber 2x’s daily is unaffordable. I really hope a deal is reached. . I am an essential worker & earn considerably less than hsr drivers.