New union tries drive at Toyota
November 24, 2007
ROSE SIMONE
CAMBRIDGEA new union drive at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada plant, this time by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, is getting "overwhelming" support, according an organizer for that union.
Ian Morland hopes the machinists' union will have enough cards signed by Christmas to be able to apply to the Ontario Labour Relations Board for a vote in the plant.
"I am cautiously optimistic that we could do this before Christmas," Morland said yesterday. The organizing drive started four weeks ago.
The union is trying to get 60 per cent of workers to sign cards before asking the board for a vote, Morland said.
In order to unionize the plant, more than 50 per cent of nearly 4,000 workers would have to vote in favour, during a ballot overseen by the labour board.
If the machinists' union does win that majority, it will have succeeded where the Canadian Auto Workers has failed in repeated attempts to unionize the plant over the past 17 years.
The CAW suspended its efforts at the Toyota plant after its latest organizing drive failed to generate enough momentum a couple of years ago.
But Morland said the machinists' union might get more support than the CAW did. There are workers in the plant who want representation, but not by the CAW, he said. "A lot of them didn't want to be affiliated with the Big Three automaker bargaining."
The CAW uses a "pattern bargaining" approach in which one contract sets a template and expectation for what must be achieved in future talks. Many Toyota workers "didn't want to be dragged into that sort of bargaining," Morland said.
"We felt we could offer a fresh approach that would interest both those who backed the CAW's efforts, and this other group as well," Morland said.
Prior to launching the organizing drive at Toyota, the machinists' union got the blessing of CAW president Buzz Hargrove, so the unions are not competing, he said. "We were told they will not interfere with our efforts at Toyota."
The international machinists' union has more than 700,000 members at Harley-Davidson, Air Canada, Bombardier and other large, sophisticated companies, Morland said. It tries to work with management, he said. "We believe if companies are healthy and have good returns for shareholders, our members will prosper as well."
John Aman, the CAW's director of organizing, said the irony is that Toyota gives its workers similar benefits and wages as those negotiated in the CAW contracts.
"What is missing for those workers is their ability to deal with day-to-day issues," he said. "It's not just about dollars and cents, but about having respect and a voice in the workplace."
The CAW found that whenever momentum would build for the union, the company would respond to worker concerns. That created a "false sense of security" that issues could be addressed without a union, Aman said.
Although the CAW won't undermine the machinists' effort, the CAW has not entirely dropped its interest in Toyota either, he added.
Aman also doesn't completely discount the possibility of a future agreement at Toyota modelled along the lines of the recent controversial agreement that the CAW struck with Magna International Inc.
Under that agreement, the company agreed not to oppose the CAW's bid to represent 18,000 workers at 45 Magna plants, in exchange for a no-strike provision. Disputes would be resolved through binding arbitration.
"Our union is always looking at new ways of organizing. The traditional ways don't always work and so we have to evolve," Aman said.
A Toyota spokesperson was not available for comment yesterday.
rsimone@therecord.com