Unifor puts Toyota union vote on hold

CTV Kitchener: Unifor vote put on hold Unifor president says he is confident about organizing Toyota workers, as vote is put on hold.

Unifor is withdrawing its application for a union vote among Toyota workers in Cambridge and Woodstock, for now.

The announcement came from the union president Jerry Dias late Thursday afternoon.

Four days ago, Dias sounded confident when he said the vote would likely be held next Monday.

The national union president says Unifor signed up more than 3,000 Toyota workers since last September. The union believed it had 40 per cent of the workers on side to join – that’s the exact number needed to hold the vote.

Toyota told the Labour Relations board this week that it has over 7,000 employees.

The union doesn’t buy it. It’s now decided to put the vote on hold and continue to push for more votes.

“We’re going to step back…temporarily. We’re going to continue to get more cards and then we’ll drop that on to all the Bay Street lawyers that are representing Toyota and say, “Now what are you going to do about this?” said Dias.

Some Toyota workers remain unconvinced that joining the union will be beneficial.

“I don't think a union is necessary because Toyota works with its team members to solve problems and that's where I stand on that issue,” said Toyota employee Brad Bobier.

Toyota’s General Manager in Cambridge Greg Mordue expressed other concerns.

“We’re very concerned that Unifor now has, as part of this process, the names of all 8,000 of our individual team members and team leaders in production in maintenance. It included all of their information,” he said.

Unifor is Canada’s largest private sector union with over 3,000 members including some CTV Kitchener employees.