Transit workers vote on city's offer (Hamilton Spectator)

Hamilton Street Railway drivers, mechanics and support staff want a pay raise above inflation and a washroom downtown.

By John Burman, Last Updated Tuesday, October 23, 2007

(Originally published in the Hamilton Spectator on October 18, 2007.)

Hamilton Street Railway drivers, mechanics and support staff want a pay raise above inflation and a washroom downtown.

The 610 members of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 107 began a 24-hour voting marathon on the city's latest offer last night.

The union executive is recommending members reject the offer. Results of the vote will be known this evening.

If it is rejected, the city is one step closer to a transit strike although no date has been set. The last transit strike in Hamilton lasted 90 days from November 1998 to the end of January 1999.

Local 107 president Budh Dhillon says the dispute is not so much about money as working conditions, including a basic human need for washroom facilities downtown.

Dhillon, who has been with the HSR 28 years, says the HSR has an agreement with Infusions Coffee House on King Street to let drivers use the washroom, but the restaurant is not open early or late when drivers need it.

"We've asked for a washroom downtown," Dhillon said last night. "We told (the city) they could dig out the old Gore Park washrooms, put a lock on it and give us the key. That's a perfect place."

Scott Stewart, Hamilton public works general manager and point man on the HSR contract talks, was not available for comment.

The Gore Park washrooms -- once a source of pride in downtown Hamilton with plenty of oak, brass plumbing and gleaming black and white tile -- were mothballed in the mid 1980s during one of the many changes to the park.

Dhillon says the city has offered drivers increases of 1.5 per cent retroactive to Jan. 1, another 1.5 per cent retroactive to July 1 and increases of 1.5 on Jan. 1 and July 1, 2008. The graduated pay scale now starts at $20.14 and goes up to full rate at $23.69.

The union would rather get "something better than inflation."

But, Dhillon insists, its not so much the money as working conditions and benefits.

The ATU wants the city to have an independent service review done. Dhillon says the HSR has dropped 61 runs since 1989 and better service would not only mean jobs for drivers but more transit use. The city doesn't want to do that because better service costs money, he said.

The union also wants the city to do something about the practice of allowing retired drivers over 55 to "wind down" on the job and do up to 24 hours of driving a week.

That was all right before the mandatory retirement age of 65 was eliminated by the province but the union is concerned some retired drivers would now be "winding down" for a long time, limiting opportunities for advancement for newer and younger drivers.

The city has regarded the ATU Local 107 workers as city employees since amalgamation and the union wants the city to treat them that way. Other city employees get paid 15-minute breaks. Bus drivers do not but they would like some "monetary arrangement" to take care of that inequity, says Dhillon.

The drivers would also like to be paid for the time they spend writing accident or other incident reports on their own time, he said. Right now, they are paid $3 for the report but only if they have two witnesses.

The strike in 1998

The 1998 Hamilton transit strike lasted 90 days. Here's what happened:

50,000 daily bus riders had to find another way to get to work, church, doctors appointments.

Its greatest impact was on seniors, people with disabilities, students and the working poor.

Social service agencies were strained to the limit trying to transport employees and volunteers.

Air quality in downtown Hamilton became sharply worse the day after the strike started and stayed that way as many more cars hit the roads.

The impasse between the HSR and the union, over how to implement a 70-hour guarantee for new hires without harming seniority rights, was finally cleared away when then Local 107 president Kim Cheesman came up with a scheduling solution.