Machinists file for union vote at Toyota Canada

[DainBramaged]

The International Association of Machinists says it has enough support to represent workers and gain union recognition for the first time at Toyota in Canada.

The union announced yesterday that it had signed up enough workers and applied to the Ontario Labour Relations Board for a formal certification vote at the sprawling Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada assembly plant in Cambridge, which employs about 4,000 production and administrative staff.

Under Ontario labour law, a union needs signatures of 40 per cent of employees in a bargaining unit to request an immediate vote which the government would supervise. More than 50 per cent of the plant's workers would need to vote in favour of the union for formal recognition as their bargaining agent.

"I'm very confident we have the support to win the vote," said Ian Morland, the union's lead organizer. "It will be in the next week."

If the machinists group is successful, it would mark the first time that a union has cracked a major Japanese automaker in North America.

The CAW represents more than 35,000 workers at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler in Canada. It also has another 2,000 members at CAMI Automotive in Ingersoll, Ont., a joint venture between GM and Suzuki of Japan.



Much more at linkhttp://www.thestar.com/Business/article/345924