Anti-Union Rally

Friday, 11 April 2014 15:24

Toyota team members against Unifor unionization bid rally Friday in front of Woodstock plant.

Workers opposed to the Unifor movement at Toyota rallying again before shift change Friday.

WOODSTOCK -- An employee with Toyota says he thinks support for the non-union movement is growing, despite Unifor's optimism they'll achieve the proper employee count to certify membership with a vote which has been delayed following a difference in eligible employee numbers last week.

Last Friday, amid rainy weather and high winds, Toyota team members on both sides of the Unifor proposal to unionize were seen rallying at plant sites in Woodstock and Cambridge.

Workers opposed to the Unifor movement were out rallying again before shift change Friday, wearing black shirts saying "Be Wise, Don't Unionize."

Bob Pate is one of those employees who rallied again today. He believes support is growing to not unionize.

"We don't want no union, and we are able to speak for ourselves and manage everything by our side. Everyday our support is getting bigger and bigger and we're just doing our role."

Pate says he feels the company has been good to its Ontario employee operations, even when faced with extraordinary circumstances.

"When we had the earthquake, tsunami and all that stuff and still Toyota didn't lay off not a single employee. The kept us working over there, so they take care of us, they think about us -- so we have to think positively and go in a positive direction, not to go with any third party."

Pate, who's worked at the Woodstock Toyota plant for four years, says he's been let down in union environments before and worries bringing in Unifor will undoubtedly lead to similar letdowns.

"Because when I worked as a union employee before at Sterling Truck -- and that plant is now completely closed, and the union didn't do nothing, and they called us brothers and sisters and we felt they didn't do anything to protect us."

Unifor announced last week that while its withdrawing its Labour Board application to become the bargaining agent for team members at Toyota Canada, the labour union is remaining committed to working with Toyota members to form a union.

After filing more than 3,000 signed cards with the Ontario Labour Relations Board last week, Toyota workers fell just short of the number required after the company released higher employment numbers.

Pate meanwhile says he and other employees still don't have an idea when the Union will propose another vote, though the union has been working on getting more cards signed.

Even with over 3,000 employees having already signed union cards, forty percent of employees are still needed to sign cards ahead of a vote, which has been delayed to avoid any dispute over the employee numbers eligible to form the bargaining unit.