In the decades that public transit has operated in the Hamilton area, there have been many disputes between managemnt and the workers who operate and maintain vehicles and equipment. The vast majority of these are settled internally, but on a handful of occasions they have resulted in labour action. Because of the importance of public transit in the operation of a city, a transit strike has a significant impact on all the people, and are remembered for years afterwards.
There have been two union locals that have operated transit in Hamilton.
The first strike action in the history of the HSR took place in September 1892. At the start of the month the HSR implemented new regulations and a new work schedule. This schedule allowed for 15 hrs of work per day for 2 days, followed by 4 hrs on the third day. HSR employees employees were hoping for a more balanced schedule, and so a deputation of seven men, lead by George Sharpe, was elected on September 5 by 51 out of the 80 HSR employees to speak with HSR management the next day.
On September 6, five employees were fired without explanation, including 3 of the 7 representatives. That evening another meeting was held where the decision was made that unless the employees were reinstated a strike would be called. Next morning, the HSR management refused to rehire the employees or to have a meeting, although they did allow the members to speak individually to managers.
As a result, at shortly before 12:30 on September 7, employees of the HSR walked off the job. Streetcars in service were stopped next to city hall, where around 40 motormen and conductors left their posts. Members of management were able to convince 20 of the strikers to return to duty, and so a limited service was running by that afternoon. Several new employees were hired to fill in the gaps
On Thursday September 8, HSR management started a new balanced work schedule, as the employees had requested, but refused to allow strikers back to work or to rehire those fired. In turn, the strikers refused to return to work unless the fired workers did as well. All streetcars were removed from service after 7 p.m, for fear of violence from strikers, though none was reported. That night a group of strikers spoke to Hamilton Mayor Peter Blaicher, asking him to speak to the HSR on their behalf. On Friday September 9, Mayor Blaicher spoke with representatives of the HSR, to whom he made two proposals: that the 5 fired employees be given a month’s pay as severance, and that the 20 strikers be allowed to return to work. The HSR agreed to the first, but to the second said that they would only take back the strikers on an as needed basis, as it would not betray the new hires or the workers who had not gone on strike. 4 of the 5 fired workers agreed to the proposal, and by September 10 the strike was over, with most of the 20 strikers having being called back to work.
The most famous transit strike in Hamilton's history is detailed in its own article
This strike was the result of a failure to reach agreement in the new proposed contract over cost of living allowances and wages. Mediation efforts in July and in August both failed, but negotiations began again on September 1, with an agreement being reached a few days later.
Union members rejected the proposed wage increase as being too low for the current rate of inflation and the cost of living in Hamilton. Negotiations resumed on November 15th and a new agreement was reached within a few hours
