It’s a push that’s been going on for more than a year. Now on Monday, Unifor is expected to announce the date for a vote by Toyota workers to join the union.
“I would assume as well that Unifor is reasonably confident in the vote outcome or they would not have called for a vote,” says Tony Faria of the Odette School of Business at the University of Windsor.
Yet, Faria says it’s still uncertain that a vote by workers at Toyota plants in Cambridge and Woodstock will end in a move to join the union.
A close vote at a Tennesse Volkswagon plant in February saw workers reject joining the United Auto Workers union.
Toyota employees currently make the same hourly rate as auto workers who are part of Unifor but they may be interested in the benefits packages that come with joining the union and the opportunity to have more say in job classifications and plant operations.
However, Faria says a move not to unionize could be a potential drawback for investors in the auto sector.
“I truly believe that Toyota will be a little more hesitant in the future to invest in Canada if their workforce here is unionized while their workers at the US plants are not,” he says.
He also says he’s confident Toyota would continue to operate here even if workers did vote to join.
Note: Unifor represents some employees of CTV Kitchener.
