Unifor May Follow UAW's Lead And Set Up "Voluntary" Local For Toyota
Canadian Toyota plant may be the next facilities to get a “voluntary” local, similar to what the UAW is proposing for Volkswagen’s Chattanooga factory.
According to the Windsor Star
Unifor president Jerry Dias said Friday the union may follow the lead of its American counterpart and establish a local for Toyota workers in Cambridge and Woodstock.
“It’s a good idea; it’s something we may very well do,” Dias said of the United Auto Workers’ decision to form a new local to be run by hourly workers employed at the Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Unifor made a big push to organize the two plants in Ontario, but their plans were disrupted after Unifor put the certification vote on hold due to an alleged discrepancy in the overall number of employees at the two plants, which had the potential to dilute the percentage of pro-union employees.
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Here we go again union bad, company good. Some people are talented enough to strike out on their own but for the vast majority they work for someone. How many grunts get into the military because they want too and how many just need a pay check. Unions have their good and bad points but if the crash of 2008 taught us anything its that the employers don't give a sh*t about their employees. The first rule of business is to make money so if you can get away with paying less you will. Anyone who thinks that their employer would pay them what they currently earn or give them the benefits they enjoy if not for the unions establishing a base line is in for an awakening. No collective bargaining and you get screwed, just look at the history of labor in North America.
"Canadian Toyota plant may be the next facilities to get a “voluntary” local" I assume you mean "plants". Man, the force is not strong with TTAC's copy-editing today.
Collective bargaining requires collective dues. But this voluntary local is a good way for the powerful unions to spend some time and win a war of attrition because once you're ingrained in the community it's far easier to win the battle over the corporate forces. I'm not happy we have to battle so hard in the US & Canada when so many other countries are pro-union, but then again we're stubborn corporatists who love to be ruled by the business elites who resent us for breathing their precious air...
redav. In every company I've worked for it all boils down to money, yours and theirs. If a company can get away with it replacing expensive labor with equally qualified cheaper labor is just good business. Non union shops pay union wages because they need to attract qualified workers who would otherwise go to the union shops. There were no unions at the turn of the 20th century, how'd that work out for the 99%.