The popular RAV 4 is one of the products assembled at Toyota's two plants in Ontario.
Foreign-owned “transplant” assembly lines now produce a major share of the vehicles sold in North America but only a handful have ever been organized, a fact that rankles union leaders on both sides of the border. And that’s something they’re aiming to change.
While the Detroit-based United Auto Workers Union is targeting Nissan and Volkswagen’s U.S. assembly plants, Unifor, the Canadian union that grew out of the merger of the Canadian Auto Workers and communications, energy and paperworkers unions, is mounting a major drive to organize employees at two assembly plants operated by Toyota In the province of Ontario.
The lines in Cambridge and Woodstock, which employ nearly 5,000 workers, are responsible for building a range of vehicles widely sold in North America, including the Lexus RX350, Toyota Corolla and Toyota RAV 4.
Toyota officials have told reporters in Canada that the union is unnecessary and they expect the Unifor drive to falter before it reaches critical mass.
The fight is similar, in many ways, to the one being waged by the United Auto Workers in the U.S. at plants operated by European and Asian automakers such as Volkswagen, Nissan and Daimler AG. A Unifor victory in Ontario would certainly be heard throughout the industry. The preponderance of auto plants in the U.S. and Canada operated by Asian and European car companies operate without unions.
(Aiming to build clout, Canadian autoworkers join new union. Click Here for more on Unifors.)
Unifor officials think they have a good opportunity to gain traction and point to issues such as Toyota’s widespread use of what are known as permanent temporary. The workers can be employed by Toyota for years and never have the security that comes with having reached full-time status, according to David Cassidy, the financial secretary of Unifor Local 444 in Windsor, Ontario.
The workers also want a voice in what goes on in the plant, he said.
“Toyota’s workers are the leaders in establishing industrial standards that challenge the way work is accomplished so why not lead and establish the best working conditions in the industry? Bargaining – No one takes a step back,” notes Unifor’s Facebook page for the Toyota workers across Ontario.
(Detroit’s Big Three plan to hand out record profit-sharing checks to union workers. Click Here for details.)
Efforts to organize Toyota plants in the U.S. have gained little momentum over the years and the UAW hasn’t done much better with Honda – which opened the nation’s first transplant line over three decades ago. The UAW is more hopeful of gaining a foothold at the Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi, though the company is far from ready to welcome it in. Meanwhile, Volkswagen is discussing a role for the UAW in its factory in Chattanooga, though no final decision has been made.
Canadian labor law is considered more favorable to unions than American laws, which provide employers with ample room to delay or block unionization by employees.
However, the Unifor drive in Ontario comes in the middle of an effort by conservative political figures to make Ontario’s labor law less favorable to unions. The anti-union proposals are similar to so-called Right to Work laws in the U.S. It remains to be seen if such an effort could forestall the organization of Toyota’s two plants in the province.
(Struggling for cash, UAW looking to raise dues for first time in nearly four decades. Click Here for details.)