Toyota employees may unionize

[valve37]

I suppose if they want to lose their jobs. The last ten major manufacturing plants to shut down were unionized, reported on news radio this morning. 

Toyota workers may be on verge of joining Unifor

Unifor has signed up enough Toyota workers in Canada to hold a union certification vote, but is holding off in a bid to get even more support, president Jerry Dias said Thursday.

Although Unifor has secured membership card signatures from about 3,200 of Toyota’s 6,500 employees in Woodstock and Cambridge, it will hold off requesting a certification vote until it is confident of winning with a “comfortable majority,” said Dias.

“We have enough for a certification, but we’re still collecting cards so that when we have a vote, it’s not close,” he said.

Ontario law requires at least 40 per cent of employees in a workplace sign union cards before a certification vote can be held.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing officials were not available for comment.

Although the union leadership held organizing drives at Toyota in the past, it failed to gain sufficient support for a certification vote, Dias said.

This time around Toyota workers appear more amenable to joining, he said.

“We’ve had other organizing drives in the past, but this one is by far the most successful,” said Dias. “The  workers are getting older. The issues aren’t so much wages. It’s line speed and the company unilaterally imposing changes to shifts and pension plans that have infuriated people.”

There is also less fear about the consequences of joining a union, Dias added. “They used to be afraid that the plant would close. They see that’s not true. Toyota built more than 500,000 cars in Canada last year. They’re not going anywhere.”

Dias, who returned Thursday from Tokyo where he held meetings with Japanese union leaders, said 85 per cent of Toyota’s plants worldwide are organized.

“So the workers in Cambridge and Woodstock are saying, ‘If it’s good enough for 85 per cent of Toyota plants around the world, why not us?’”

Japanese union leaders have pledged to bolster Unifor’s organizing drive by writing letters of support to Toyota workers in Ontario, said Dias. “The Japanese union leaders were saying the relationship with Toyota is very good. Toyota does not show an anti-union attitude in Japan.”

Union leaders in Tokyo also will ask corporate officials to direct Toyota management in Canada not to interfere with the union drive in Cambridge and Woodstock, said Dias. “They’re going to meet with Toyota management and request they take a hands-off approach as we get closer to the vote,” he said. “It’s all about the employees’ choice. Toyota should not interfere with the wishes of their employees.”

Unifor also may recruit Japanese union officials in the Ontario organizing drive, he added.

Dino Chiodo, president of Unifor Local 444, said he and a group of Windsor union leaders, met this summer with about 150 Toyota workers to discuss bargaining.

“We talked about about master bargaining, pattern bargaining, how it works,” said Chiodo. “I think a number of the Toyota employees want to improve health and safety conditions. We told them we do a great job with Chrysler, putting in place processes aimed at improving ergonomics, preventing workplace injuries and keeping our membership healthy.”

Success at organizing transplants can have an impact on  similar efforts across the border, said Dias, who held “extensive talks with outgoing UAW president Bob King and his successor, Dennis Williams.

The UAW appears to be making progress in its efforts to organize hourly workers at Volkswagen plants in the United States.

“We know that if any of our organizations has success organizing a transplant it will help the union in the other country,” said Dias. “So, it will be a breakthrough.”

http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2013/12/12/toyota-workers-may-be-on-verge-of-joining-unifor/

Thank god for our resources and especially the oil sands!

[pierrelebel]

"Thank god for our resources and especially the oil sands!"

Should I presume from your many favourable comments on the subject that you own shares of Canadian Oil Sands.  You will be pleased to learn that late last week the directors of the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share payable at the end of this month.  The yield on the stock is almost 7% (6.993% to be exact). 

Considering the preferential tax treatment of dividends in Canada, that looks pretty good compared to a fully taxable 2.2% paid on GIC by major banks.

[valve37]

Well I do have a basket of div paying oil sands stocks plus REITS and the package has averaged a 17% yearly return. Previous to 2009 they were trust units and in Aug 2009 became a mutual fund. Thank god Harper for TFSAs, direct transferred all of it from my trading account over last two years. Filled TFSA to max with it and watching it grow! Direct transfer from a trading account works great. You can also do it from a RRIF as part of your RRIF withdrawals when you're old enough to do so Pierre. Put it first in a trading account. 

My thank god for the oil sands was for the long term prosperity of Canada!