Street Railway Strike (Part 1) - 1892

“Between the Hamilton Street Railway Company and its employees relations just at present are somewhat strained. The trouble has been brewing ever since the horse cars gave place to the trolley system, but only today did the difficulty reach such an acute stage as to result in the dismissal of several motormen and conductors. The events that lead up to this action by the company are connected with the agitation that has arisen over the failure of the management to live up to the terms of the agreement regarding the hours of the men and their pay for overtime.”

          “Motormen Discharged : Several of the Street Railway Employees Laid Off”  Hamilton Herald. September 6, 1892.¹

          Throughout the summer of 1892, the Hamilton Street Railway Company and its employees had tremendous difficulties adjusting to the new schedules necessitated by the conversion of the system from horse to electric motive power.

          One employee, John Kelly, had amassed over fifty hours of overtime but the company had not paid the full amount of his claim. While many other street railway employees had been putting in substantial overtime without pay, John Kelly’s case was unique in that he had decided to leave the service of the company. He had threatened to institute legal proceedings to recover the money he felt was due to him for his overtime.

          On Saturday, September 3, 1892, the Hamilton Street Railway Company attempted to prevent any further claims for overtime pay, by making each employee sign a waiver before they could receive their pay:

          “Determined not to be caught in the same way by anymore of its employees, the company, on the last pay day, submitted to them for signature a document releasing the management from any liability to the men for past services.

          “Payment of the wages due them was dependent on their signing this document, and the majority wrote down their names. But some refused to do so, and these claim that the agreement they were asked to sign was worded so that they had reason to fear it applied to their future services, as well as to those already rendered.”¹

          Later that evening, the men working for the Hamilton Street Railway Company held a meeting at the Foresters’ Hall to discuss the possibility of organizing for their mutual benefit:

          “The organization was not intended to deal specially with the question of hours and wages, but one of its primary objects was to form a sick benefit fund. ‘We intend to ask the company to go in with us on it,’ said one of the men today, ‘because we recognized that it would prevent any misconception as to our ideas in organizing, and we desired to have our mutual interests observed in connection with all that was done.”²

² “Six Employees Discharged: The Street Railway Company and Its Men.” Hamilton Spectator. September 6, 1892.

          The first meeting, on Saturday September 3, 1892, was followed by another meeting the next Monday when the association, known as the Canadian Street Car Employees’ Association, was formally organized with Mr. George Sharp elected as chairman.

          The men were of the opinion that much of the trouble which had been taking place between the company and its employees could have been avoided if the directors of the company and representatives of the men had been able to meet and discuss the problems face-to-face.

          To this end, the members of the newly-formed association instructed the executive to request a meeting with the manager of the Street Railway Company the following morning:

          “But the company evidently heard something of what ws going on, and imagining that a section of its employees were seeking to foment an agitation and start a labor organization among them, took prompt steps to nip the movement in the bud.”¹

                The members of the executive had made arrangements to have other employees relieve them of their responsibilities when it was time to meet with the manager of the company. When George Dempster  proposed that he would relieve one of the committee members for that purpose, the foran at the stables promptly suspended him.

          Most of the other members of the committee were unable to get away from their cars for the meeting, although George Sharp, John McDonough and Chas. Gray were able to present themselves at the company’s office:

          “But when these three entered the office of Manager Griffith, and announced themselves as a committee from the employees of the company, they were told that the company did not recognize them as such, and that they were no longer in its employ.”¹

          Not long after the three employees were summarily discharged, a reporter with the Spectator was able to meet with George Sharp to hear his version of what had transpired:

          “ ‘You see, there was difficulty about us all getting away,’ said President Sharp, ‘ those who were working had to get substitutes to act for them while they were off. One man came up to the Gore with his car and Dempster, another employee, who was there to take his place. He asked Mr. Trainer if he could get away and let Dempster take his car, but Mr. Trainer immediately suspended Dempster for offering to do so.

          “ ‘We delegates called on Mr. Griffith in reference  to the hours of work, as we had been appointed to do, but he refused to listen to us. When we said we represented the men, he said, ‘You are no longer employees of the company.’ So I suppose that means we are dismissed. The men who are with us in the organization compromise a majority of the employees. They are indignant about it and offered to leave the cars and go on strike, but we don’t want anything of that sort. I am satisfied that Mr. Griffith misunderstands the object of our organization. We only desire to benefit the men and settle the question of hours in the most amicable manner, for we know it is in the interests of both sides.’

          “ ‘Yes,’ said another of the suspended employees who stood by, ‘fifty-one out of the eighty on the road are in with us, and others would join, but they don’t like to appear as if taking any initiative in the matter. One of the men, Norman Stewart, has been suspended for soliciting others to join.’ ”²

                When a reporter for the Hamilton Herald attempted to get the company’s side of the matter, he was told by Manager Griffith that relations between the company and its employees were not matters of public interest. He would only say that the dismissed men were no long suitable for the company.