City alerts Hamilton transit riders of potential disruption to service coming soon

With a potential strike or lockout looming, the City of Hamilton is alerting residents that HSR bus service could be suspended as early as Wednesday.

In a release, transit staff reiterated that reality following the city’s receipt of a formal no-board notice on Oct. 8 opening the door for labour action from either the city or the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 107, which represents the affected 880 HSR transit workers.

Acting city manager Jason Thorne suggested customers consider “alternative forms of transportation” for commuting should transit become unavailable.

“While we are obligated to prepare for a labour disruption and the impacts that will have on public transit, we remain committed to reaching a negotiated settlement that is fair for workers and taxpayers,” Thorne said.

The city’s director of communications Matthew Grant says the city’s DARTS program will not be affected since those drivers belong to a different union.

Although in a position to lock out workers on Wednesday, Grant says the city has no intention to do so as of Tuesday. But he said the possibility remains.

“We know that many Hamiltonians rely on our transit system to get to where they’re going, so we just wanted to make sure that everyone understood there’s a possibility of this occurring,” said Grant.

Last week, ATU 107 president Eric Tuck said no strike has been hashed out by the union and that they have no intention of taking action over the next week until meeting with members after a pair of bargaining sessions with the city.

“We have not set a strike date at this point. We will be meeting with our members on Nov. 5 to discuss next actions if we do not have a collective agreement,” Tuck said.

“But we’re hopeful that we can get there. We do have a couple more days scheduled and it’s really up to the city to come to the table and to bargain in earnest.”

Wages, safety and light rail transit (LRT) procurement are the key issues, with the union pointing to double-digit increases it says senior city administrators recently received from the city.

Tuck says his members are seeking something similar to deals reached with non-union workers and CUPE members this year, addressing living increases to compensate for inflation over the past two years.

Over 99 per cent of the ATU’s members are in favour of a strike should a deal not be reached.

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