Statement from City Manager Marnie Cluckie on the Hamilton Ontario Water Employees Association (HOWEA) labour disruption

HAMILTON, ON – As City Manager, I want to express my deep respect for the City’s Hamilton Ontario Water Employees Association (HOWEA) members. The current labour disruption in no way diminishes the high regard we have for the skilled and dedicated professionals who help deliver essential services to the people of Hamilton.

The 55 HOWEA members play a vital role in the delivery of essential services across our city, and so do thousands of frontline workers – volunteer firefighters, nurses, personal support workers, waste collection operators, Ontario Works workers, transit operators and many more representing hundreds of job classifications who have already ratified collective agreements within the same financial mandate as the offer the City has presented to HOWEA.

Let me be clear: the City’s offer to the HOWEA membership is consistent with the agreements reached with eight of the City’s eleven bargaining units, representing more than 6,000 employees. The agreements are fair, responsible and negotiated in good faith.

So how does this translate to dollars? When negotiating collective agreements, the City bases its financial mandate on a percentage cost increase - not the total dollar value - of the new agreement. This ensures fairness for employees across different unions at the City, whether they have 3 or 3,000 members. While a 20% wage increase over four years for 55 employees may appear to have a small impact and be manageable in isolation, that same increase applied across our workforce would result in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs. We simply cannot create a system where the size of a bargaining unit determines the outcome of negotiations; we need to treat employees consistently.

The City’s offer includes:

Wage increases: A new wage schedule that would deliver first-year increases of up to 6–10% for most employees, averaging 4.72% for HOWEA members.
Faster progression: Changes to make it easier and quicker for employees to reach the top of their pay band.
Enhanced premiums: Increased pay for certifications and specialized skills.
Better benefits: Expanded mental health and vision care coverage.

This offer is fair. It is aligned with the same financial mandate that guided other successful negotiations and agreements and reflects our responsibility to both employees and taxpayers.

We want to resolve this disruption as soon as possible. The City has made repeated offers to return to the bargaining table and tried to negotiate a strike and picketing protocol to reduce conflict and increase safety on picket lines. Unfortunately, these offers were rejected by union leadership.

This is disappointing, but our goal hasn’t changed: to get a fair deal and bring employees back to the important work they do.

I know this isn’t easy. Negotiations are tough and emotions can run high. But we believe this offer is fair, and we believe a resolution is possible — at the bargaining table.

Our last meeting, held at the City’s request on May 26, did not bring us closer to that goal. The union’s latest proposal included an ask for a greater increase to the new wage schedule, moving further away from the framework and further outside the City's established mandate. The union has indicated that the disruption will only end if the union’s demands are fully accepted – that is not true negotiation.

We respect the union’s legal right to strike and protest peacefully. However, I am concerned about recent reports of behaviour on the picket lines, and especially about misinformation being spread in the community – particularly around water safety. 

To all residents: your drinking water is safe. Critical water and wastewater services remain operational and fully compliant with all provincial regulations. We have highly qualified internal staff and contractors, many with Level 4 certification, managing these systems and ensuring the continued delivery of these critical services. Emergency response, sampling and spill response remains active and effective.

Despite the current dispute, the City’s responsibility to the heath and safety of the public remains unwavering.

Though we approach the fifth week of the labour disruption, I want residents to know: our door remains open. We are ready and open to continued dialogue. We are willing to return to the negotiating table at any time. It’s the only path to a resolution that works for everyone — for employees, for the City and for the people we all serve.

To Hamilton residents: thank you for your continued patience. I understand how difficult and frustrating labour disruptions can be. Please know that your water remains safe, essential services are being delivered, and the City is doing everything it can to bring this dispute to a fair and timely end.

Let’s return to the table. Let’s get back to work — together.