Bus service to resume Friday after Hamilton transit union, city reach late-night tentative deal

The union representing Hamilton bus drivers reached a late-night, tentative deal with the city that will see buses back on the road.

Local 107 of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) said the tentative deal was reached at 2 a.m. Thursday. 

"I am extremely proud of our negotiating team and the rank-and-file membership for staying unified throughout this dispute," said Eric Tuck, Local 107 president, in a statement. 

Mayor Andrea Horwath said, in her own statement issued early Thursday morning, that she was "thrilled" about the tentative deal. 

"Strikes are difficult, and I thank the public for their patience and understanding while HSR was out of service. I know this disruption had very real impacts on people's lives, and I look forward to the full restoration of service as soon as possible."

Buses to resume service Friday

Buses remained off the road Thursday, but the city said "normal scheduled operations" would resume Friday. 

Tuck had told CBC Hamilton that maintenance workers were going into work Thursday to ready the fleet "as quickly as possible."

The tentative deal means buses will be in service just in time for Grey Cup weekend. The game is being held at Tim Hortons Field this Sunday. 

The city said Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) would be now operating four different Grey Cup shuttles on Sunday, available from Eastgate Square, Lime Ridge Mall, University Plaza and King at James, going to the stadium. 

Tuck had previously said striking workers would target Grey Cup shuttle buses running between West Harbour Station and Tim Hortons Field, saying ATU considered them to be "scab labour" replacing work traditionally done by ATU members. The Grey Cup Festival told CBC Hamilton they offered the work to HSR months before the strike but the agency turned it down. The city did not respond to questions about why. 

Riders react

Hamiltonian Brian Isidro said he's feeling positive about the possible end of the strike.

"I feel more support for these drivers, especially with the conditions that they go through on a daily basis just to meet there, just to meet their daily shift." Isidro said hearing workers call for things like more frequent washroom breaks was eye-opening.

"We should be commending them for the hard work they do because they do a lot for the city."

HSR bus driver Cassie Theaker on what it's like to drive a bus in Hamilton while struggling to support her young family

1 year ago

Duration 1:41

HSR bus driver Cassie Theaker speaks to fellow striking transit workers about what it's like to drive a bus in Hamilton while struggling to support her young family.

Isidro said he doesn't drive and has a lot of medical appointments downtown. Getting there from his home on the mountain was challenging, he said, and required him to take taxis or ride-shares, which got expensive, in part due to rising pricing on services such as Uber. 

A spokesperson for Uber Canada told CBC in an email that "surge pricing occurs when there are more ride requests than there are drivers," and that it helps manage the demand by incentivizing drivers to pick up rides, and people who can wait to do so. 

Jagtar Singh Chahal, who runs local company Hamilton Cab, told CBC via email Tuesday that the number of calls for cabs "increased dramatically during day time," but the business kept its prices the same.  

"Our public who depend upon the HSR is suffering. No one has extra money."

Aha Blume lives in the Locke Street neighbourhood and said she remembers being in high school during the last Hamilton transit strike 25 years ago. 

Blume works as a tutor and at a Burlington grocery store. She said getting to Burlington was easy enough because the Burlington bus route into Hamilton kept running, but that for her tutoring gigs, she had to rely on rides from her mom. 

She said she empathizes with the workers' call for more pay,  but also understood the city's argument that it could only pay so much, and worried about other workers being inconvenienced. 

"[ATU members are] saying that they want more money. Well, so do all the rest of us," Blume said. "I kind of felt like they're providing an essential service and, yes, they should get compensated. But I also feel like they are making a lot more money than some of the rest of us minimum wage workers who don't have a union."

Tentative deal must still be ratified

The deal will need to be ratified by Local 107 members and then put to a final vote — a process that can take seven to 10 days, Tuck said. The details of the deal will be released publicly after ratification, he added. 

The strike began last Thursday — the first strike in 25 years. ATU Local 107 workers were calling for wage increases, reliable washroom breaks and improved facilities. 

The city said it had previously offered a 12.75 per cent wage increase with a 3.75 per cent increase retroactive to January 2023, and three per cent increases in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Tuck said that offer wasn't enough. "We need wages to keep pace with inflation," Tuck said previously. "We're prepared to move toward the middle, but [the city] is going to have to move, too." 

The bus system usually sees an average of 65,000 rides a day, the city says.

"Hopefully this deal is going to be good enough for the workers to keep their job and be able to keep up with rising inflation," Isidro said.