On 1 October 1822, many keelmen employed above the bridge stopped work and obstructed any crews about to depart. Nathaniel Clayton, one of the coal owners, ordered the staithman at Dunston to find out why the stoppage had occurred and expressed willingness to redress any well-founded complaint. Discontent spread rapidly, however, and by the following morning the whole workforce had joined the strike. A committee of the coal trade agreed that each fitter should order the men to work and ascertain the reason if they refused, but the strike continued and next day the men presented a petition to the Mayor. Although the stoppage originated above the bridge where no ships could be loaded by spout, the first complaint in the petition concerned this grave issue:

They further called for restoration of binding-money and other allowances, including earnest-money formerly given three months before the binding. In every other respect they were content with their existing terms. According to a newspaper report, the petitioners’ complaints were well justified. In one of the above-bridge works, where one hundred keelmen were employed more constantly than most of the others on the river, their wages during the existing year averaged no more than 14 or 15 shillings per week, while in many cases the average below-bridge was only 7 or 8 shillings, ‘a sum very inadequate to the support of themselves and families’. Matthias Dunn, who was in a position to be well informed, acknowledged that on account of the spouts many of the below-bridge keelmen had been earning ‘very bad wages’ which he put at between 10 and 12 shillings per week.

The magistrates met representatives of the keelmen and the coal trade on 4 October. The Mayor complained that by striking before informing a magistrate of their grievances the men had failed to observe the 1819 agreement.