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Friday, July 4, 2025

A Letter to Mayor Horwath concerning Water Strike

Dear Mayor Horwath and City Manager Ms. Cluckie,

As you are aware, the ongoing strike involving IUOE 772 remains unresolved, and both parties appear increasingly entrenched in their positions.

While The Hamiltonian maintains neutrality, certain realities are evident:

  1. Imbalance in Negotiations: Financially, the City has the capacity to withstand a longer strike, whereas the union members—approximately fifty skilled workers—are facing significant personal and financial hardship. While strikes of this nature require time and negotiation, it is becoming clear that the City may be leveraging its advantage at the expense of families struggling to maintain their livelihoods.

  2. Public Service Concerns: Hamiltonians expect their water services to be managed by qualified specialists. The reliance on live-in staff under suboptimal conditions is a temporary and risky solution. This situation could be deemed unacceptable by residents who rely on safe, expertly managed water services.

  3. Failure to Address the Costs: To date, the City has not disclosed the financial impact of this strike in real dollars. Hamiltonians deserve transparency regarding the ongoing costs associated with the disruption, especially as this conflict drags on.

While it may be tempting to ignore our outreach, doing so—given the gravity of the issues above—demonstrates a failure in stewardship and a disregard for both Hamiltonians who deserve reliable services, and the union members and their families who wish to return to work.

We remain neutral, but we cannot endorse a situation that jeopardizes the safety of our residents. We ask that you respond directly to this piece, published in The Hamiltonian, and make an effort to extend an olive branch to IUOE 772.

Will you take this step? Mayor Horwath, respectfully, it may be time you are heard on this issue. May we hear back from you today? 


Teresa

Sincerely,

Teresa DiFalco
Publisher, The Hamiltonian

6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 04, 2025

    Good on you Teresa! I want to know why the mainstream media is awol on this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 04, 2025

    Mayor won’t respond, what is she hiding?

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 05, 2025

    The city and mainstream media want to make it out that IOUE 772 are monsters. They have experienced a lot of harassment and violence for the public that the city chooses to ignore. A lot of people have experienced a strike and some have not. It is a very confusing time, especially for those on strike. The city likes to silence the voice of everyone except their own. How would you react if your voice was silenced? The city has made it a personal attack on striking members threatening retaliatory action upon returning to work. Is this fair bargaining or COERCION?

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 05, 2025

    Today’s front page headline in The Soec. HAMILTON’s Mr Chips enjoys dishing out fast food in Rwanda. That’s all you need to know. Teresa, you should do some fund raising and really get out there.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJuly 05, 2025

    “While it may be tempting to ignore our outreach, doing so—given the gravity of the issues above—demonstrates a failure in stewardship and a disregard for both Hamiltonians who deserve reliable services, and the union members and their families who wish to return to work.” Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJuly 05, 2025

    The City takes about financial mandates but then they cry about budget overruns months in. Maybe Marnie has lost touch because she’s taking courses in the US (Naveen Jindal School of Management, UT Dallas) are hamiltonians paying for this?

    ReplyDelete

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