Street Railway Strike (Part 2) - 1892

After the members of their newly-formed association had been fired after trying to engage in discussion with the company’s management, the employees of the Hamilton Street Railway held a meeting.

          It was the consensus of those present that the company officials had misunderstood the intentions of the employees in forming the new organization. It was felt that another effort should be made to convince the company that it should engage with its employees responsibly.

          However, when the three men who had been dismissed, tried again to meet with Mr. Griffith, manager of the Street Railway company, they were told that the company would have nothing to do with them as representatives of any employee organization, but that he would deal with them on an individual basis:

          “(Griffith) was assured that there was nothing antagonistic to the company in the objects of the association and offered to show him the minutes of its meetings. Mr. Griffith still refused to discuss the situation with them so long as they acted as representatives of the association. When informed that there might be trouble for the company if he persisted in following out the course which he had adopted, Mr. Griffith said : ‘If trouble comes, the company will have to deal with it as best it can.’ ”¹

¹ “They Went Out On an Impulse : A Strike of the Street Railway Employees” Hamilton Spectator. September 7, 1892.

          When word got back to the employees on duty that the committee had once again ben refused a hearing by the company, and that the dismissed men had not been reinstated, there was considerable agitation to strike.

          George Sharp urged the men to proceed carefully:

          “He said he would sooner lose his own job than put any of the others, among them married men with families, in danger of losing theirs. When the men persisted and said they would not work, he advised them to be gentlemen whatever they did, and to do nothing that they would be sorry for afterwards. He asked them to leave their cars quietly, if they decided to leave them at all, and to hand in their controller handles at the office.”²

² “Street Car Men Quit Work : The Fifty Association Members Leave Their cars at 12:30 O’Clock” Hamilton Times. September 7, 1892.

          Several of the men decided to quit work at 12:30. Two cars came to a stop on James Street near the city hall as their conductors and motormen left the cars standing, abandoned, in the middle of the street. In five minutes, a line of cars built up behind the stopped trolleys, effectively tying up all north/south traffic on the street railway.

          A large crowd gathered as some of the motormen and conductors stood on the sidewalk discussing the situation, while some passengers remained I the cars wondering what was going to happen next.

          Within fifteen minutes, Street Railway Company Manager Griffith arrived on the scene and asked the employees what was the problem. He was answered by one who said, “A strike, I guess.”

          That answer prompted the manager of the company into action:

          “Mr. Griffith hurried about to find the crews of the leading cars, and having discovered them, asked the men to take the cars on. When they demurred, he said briskly, ‘Are you going to? If not, say so.’ ‘Well, I understand there’s some difficulty, Mr. Griffith,’ said one of the motormen. ‘All right,’ replied the manager, ‘I’ll get someone else.’

          “He went down the line and soon got enough men to take the first cars out. As the cars began to move, the crowd that had gathered jeered and hooted the motormen. J. B. Griffith also appeared on the scene, and assisted his brother in his efforts to start the cars. So successful were their efforts that in ten minutes about a dozen cars had got away, but some of them were subsequently deserted by their crews.”¹

About forty street car employees participated in the strike, but over half of them were quickly induced to return to their posts. Those who chose to go back to their cars were roundly jeered by the crowds at King and James streets, but there was no attempt at violence.

All the members of the executive of the new association went off their cars and stayed off, to be replaced by men from the company’s office and the car houses who were quickly taught how to operate the trolleys.

Many of the men who chose not to go on strike claimed that they had been unable to attend any of the new association’s meetings and were unaware that a strike had been called.

After the company had got the cars running again, large crowds still remained on the downtown street corners in anticipation of trouble. From 3 to 4 p.m., the strikers lingered around the corner of King and James streets unsuccessfully attempting to induce their fellow employees to leave their cars.

As the cars passed, there was some occasional hooting at the motormen, but no violence. When two uniformed men arrived to move a trolley which had been abandoned on York street, they were followed by a motley collection of small boys and street toughs who jeered and called them ‘scabs’ but no further incidents disrupted the afternoon.