HSR workers OK 3% yearly raise in new contract

Hamilton transit workers overwhelmingly accepted a tentative contract with the city yesterday.

By Rachel De Lazzer, Last Updated Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Originally published in the Hamilton Spectator on November 28, 2007.

Hamilton transit workers overwhelmingly accepted a tentative contract with the city yesterday, giving them a 3 per cent yearly pay increase for the past year and over the next three years if it's passed by council.

That means by the time the contract ends in 2010, a bus driver's full-time starting wage of $20.14 will rise to $22.66.

Members of Local 107 of the Amalgamated Transit Union voted 92 per cent in favour of the new contract.

Voting started at 3 a.m. Monday to accommodate the schedule of its 600 members. It ran for 24 hours.

"We feel very much relieved and relaxed," said union president Budh Dhillon. "Now we have stability for at least three years ahead of us and we can plan economically." And transit riders can now count on uninterrupted service until at least 2010.

Council must still vote on the tentative agreement tonight.

"These are good steps all going in the right direction," said Scott Stewart, general manager for public works and the city representative at the talks.

Aside from wage increases, workers successfully extended their contract to four years from the previous three.

Bus drivers who get no meal breaks will receive an extra 1 per cent pay raise in place of the missed breaks, but only for the last year of the contract.

Overtime pay now starts after eight hours a day or 40 hours a week, instead of 8 1/2 or 44 hours a week, bringing them closer to some city workers.

Drivers still have a tight squeeze if they need a bathroom break in their busy schedule, but Dhillon said the union was told the city would work on that as well as service issues related to overcrowded buses that are sometimes too full to pick people up.

"We're happy with what we got."