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Hamilton·New
Union says 54 workers person walked disconnected the occupation aft they failed to scope a corporate bargaining statement with the City of Hamilton by Tuesday night.
City says h2o volition proceed to beryllium delivered contempt labour disruption
Samantha Beattie · CBC News
· Posted: May 14, 2025 10:06 AM EDT | Last Updated: 15 minutes ago
Operators who tally Hamilton's h2o and wastewater works are connected onslaught Wednesday aft negotiations with the metropolis fell through.
At the Woodward Avenue Treatment Plant, 54 workers are picketing, said Greg Hoath, concern manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 772, connected behalf of the Hamilton Ontario Water Employees Association.
They oversee the h2o purifying process arsenic good arsenic the discharge of discarded water, helium said.
The metropolis has said successful a quality release, good attraction and h2o investigating volition proceed "without interruption" and it has contingency plans to "maintain captious facilities operations" to guarantee cleanable h2o continues to flow.
However, the workers connected onslaught are "genuinely concerned," said Hoath.
"We cognize what it takes successful there, and there's nary mode they person capable bodies that are certified," helium said.
At the aforesaid time, workers person faced 2 large issues that haven't been addressed for 2 decades, said Hoath.
The archetypal is operators are required to get four, "Level 3" certifications but are paid little than a antithetic radical of workers who are lone required to person one, "Level 1" certification, said Hoath.
The national wants to adjacent that spread by expanding the wage of its members by six per cent implicit 4 years, helium said.
The 2nd contented is that if operators privation to scope the apical wage rate, they person to acquisition on-the-job training, but it tin instrumentality the metropolis arsenic agelong arsenic 10 years to facilitate it, helium said.
"We're looking for fairness wrong the metropolis itself," helium said. "I told the metropolis past night, 'We're here, you call, we'll come.'"
The metropolis did not respond to a petition for remark earlier publication.
It said, on its website Tuesday, it has been successful negotiations with the national since past December.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Samantha Beattie is simply a newsman for CBC Hamilton. She has besides worked for CBC Toronto and arsenic a Senior Reporter astatine HuffPost Canada. Before that, she dived into section authorities arsenic a Toronto Star newsman covering metropolis hall.
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