Striking Hamilton water workers receive cease and desist letter from city

The city of Hamilton’s water employees have been on strike since the middle of May, and the city has sent the striking workers a cease and desist letter asking them to end all strike actions.

The letter was sent to striking water workers on May 27.

But the deadline for the union to respond has come and gone. The city is now looking at its next steps.

The city says last week the striking workers held up buses on the mountain and cars at City Hall for hours. And they say that’s unacceptable and not the way to strike.

“The amount of time that the cars are being delayed is certainly unreasonable. In terms of some of the intimidating behaviours, I think they’re a bit concerning in terms of the things that are being said at the picket lines,” said Lora Fontana, executive director, human resources at City Hall.

“We felt it was important that we issue it because we need to ensure that the public is safe, that there is service continuity and that business keeps running even in light of their demonstrations,” said City Manager Marnie Cluckie.

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Last Thursday the city had to cancel buses affecting thousands of transit users.

“I think when it comes to transit operations, I don’t think any delay is reasonable. Folks rely on transit to get to their appointments, to get to work, to get to school,” said Fontana.

The city gave the union until May 30 to respond, but the union says they’ve done nothing wrong.

“It suggested that we were engaging in unlawful activities. The police have visited the picket lines probably six, seven, eight times. And of course, there’s no unlawful activities, so I’m not sure what their intentions were,” said Greg Hoath, the business manager at the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 772.

Now that the deadline has come and gone, what does the city plan on doing next?

“The union has not responded to the cease and desist letter. We are not wanting to react aggressively at this point, but we do want to consider our options in terms of what our next steps are going forward,” said Fontana.

The city says they have reached out to the union’s business manager to return to the table, but say the union is refusing unless their monetary demands are met.

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