Making Inroads at Toyota
By Ray Martin
Cambridge Times - Business
Dec 04, 2007

Ian Morland and his organizing committee are continuing to beat the drum loudly as the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers try to sign up workers at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc.

"We had a fabulous open house last week," said Morland, IAMAW organizer. "We had well over 100 people come in with great questions and they took away a lot of cards. I'd say it went much better than expected."

The union has been trying to make inroads into the Cambridge car plant for the past month and Morland is "cautiously optimistic" that a union certification application can be filed with the Ontario Labour Relations Board before the end of December.

Should the union gather enough support to file, the labour board would oversee a certification vote at Toyota within five business days of the filing of the application. The vote would require 50 per cent of the workers to agree before a union could be established.

According to a union press release, the organizing effort is gaining traction as Toyota's Cambridge team members face a wage reduction, mandatory overtime on weekends, promotion favouritism and vacation blackout periods.

Pat Clement, Toyota's assistant manager for external affairs, said the company has a process in place to address employee grievances.

As for the issues raised by the union, Clement declined comment.