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:
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.
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.
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
Good on you Teresa! I want to know why the mainstream media is awol on this.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteMayor won’t respond, what is she hiding?
ReplyDeleteThe 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?
ReplyDeleteToday’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.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughtful suggestion. The Hamiltonian has proudly served our community for over a decade, providing independent and impactful reporting without ever requesting financial support. We believe the need for our unique approach to journalism is as vital as ever, and while we do not actively seek contributions, any support you wish to offer is always welcomed. If you wish to assist, please feel free to reach out to us at admin@thehamiltonian.info.
DeleteWarm regards,
Teresa
“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!
ReplyDeleteThe 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?
ReplyDeleteI might be able to form an opinion with more facts. What are the issues? compensation, work conditions etc. ? How much do these workers make now and what are they looking to get. Chat GPT advises the median individual income in Hamilton is $40,400 and the median is $53,750. These metrics would include skilled and unskilled workers. Odd that a left leaning government wont open the wallet, must be something to this. Taxpayers pay for this. Property taxes are out of control as it is. I miss my old place where we had a well.
ReplyDeleteThis may help: http://www.thehamiltonian.net/2025/06/water-fight-analysis.html
DeleteIts a shame the general media hasn't posted more on this, because they are genuinely just asking for parity with CUPE staff who require only one water distribution license who make 41.5ish an hour while they make 38.60$ an hour at top pay and require to hold all 4 licenses.
DeleteThe city manager says the jobs are not equivalent, but if you look at collective agreements for Halton or Waterloo region water treatment operators make 43$ and 44.5$ on the top end respectively.
I would also generally caution taking any mean/median incomes as a comparative metric for what any career profession should be making as median income metric includes everyone, including retirees, stay at home spouses with investment income in their name, students who work part-time only on the weekends, etc. The numbers generally get pulled down a lot compared to what a full-time working professional would make, you always have to compare job to job. And comparing job to job it definitely looks like HOWEA members, especially the tradespeople are significantly behind within municipality and between municipalities.
FOI request for strike costs incoming?
ReplyDeleteThe Hamiltonian has sent a second request for this information. While we believe in FOI, it can be used as a tool for delay. The Hamiltonian is an an honest broker in this dispute representing the interests of Hamiltonian’s only. As such, we have sent two requests for this information; information that is not of a personal nature. The onus is on the city to also step up.
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