Strike drawing attention from non-union plants

LONDON, ONT. Ripples from the strike at CAMI Assembly are being felt on the factory floor of non-union auto assembly plants in Ontario.

Workers at Toyota plants in Cambridge and Woodstock, which lost Corolla production to Mexico, along with Honda in Alliston, are paying close attention to the fight in Ingersoll, said Unifor officials.

There are organizing drives at both Japanese auto plants, and what has tweaked interest, is that this fight is about job security and ensuring production work in Canada. That is an issue all workers identify with, as many have the same fear.

“There used to be a sign at the entrance to Toyota that the Corolla is the DNA of Toyota. We lost the Corolla and that is a big deal here,” said Lee Sperduti, a team leader who has been at the forefront of the union drive at the plant. “It was our bread and butter.” The Toyota union drive, ongoing more than four years, had sputtered after more than 600 maintenance workers narrowly voted against a union drive in their area last year.

But in the last two weeks, CAMI workers have been out, the union received “dozens” of daily inquiries, said Sperduti.

If they can win job security language, the moribund drive may spark to life, he believes.

The Corolla will end production in Cambridge in 2019, replaced by overflow production for the RAV4 crossover vehicle made at the automaker’s Woodstock plant.

But more than 270,000 Corollas are now assembled in the Cambridge facility, a lot of vehicles to replace, said Sperduti.

“We may have the same fight here. There is definitely more interest because of what is going on at CAMI.”

The union also applied to certify the Toyota workers in 2014, but withdrew when it did not have enough cards signed. There are more than 8,000 working at Toyota, which opened in 1988.

As for CAMI, workers walked off the job more than two weeks ago over job security language wanting to ensure three shifts of production for the life of the contract. It assembles the Equinox and in July

lost the Terrain vehicle and more than 400 jobs, to Mexico.

GM and Unifor Local 88 negotiators met at Woodstock Monday and there was little to report out of it, said Mike Van Boekel, local chairman.

“It’s slow and steady, it’s a grind,” Van Boekel said Monday.

At Honda, the card signing is going well, but Unifor is not close to calling a vote, said Danny McBride, national representative, who’s heading the drive.

“They realize Unifor is doing the heavy lifting for the automotive industry in Canada,” in its fight to keep jobs here, said McBride.

“They are watching, it is no secret our national president (Jerry Dias) has been front and centre in the NAFTA talks, made strides in the last Detroit Three bargaining (last year). I think they appreciate that. They know it is a not about money but about the future.”

Unifor has opened an office in Alliston to aid in the drive to organize the more than 4,000 workers at the assembly plant making the Honda Civic and CRV crossover vehicle. Honda opened in 1986.

“No one likes a strike, but sometimes

you have to do it. This is one of those times,” said McBride.

“We saw Toyota lines move to Mexico and they understand here they are vulnerable. They appreciate what we are doing.”

The union held a massive rally at the CAMI plant gates Sunday, drawing more than 2,000 of the strikers to hear Dias deliver a fiery speech, slamming GM for not offering some measure of security to the workers, and warning it will be a long, tough fight.

“This thing is not closing next week or next year, GM has invested more than $800 million. But what happens down the road when volume (demand for cars) reduces as it will over time,” said Dias after the rally.

“We are not ever conceding, period. We are not out on the line because it is a beautiful day. We are out here because we need a long-term solution to our jobs.”

Workers at CAMI have been working six days a week, for more than eight years, Van Boekel said after the rally.

“We can compete with the States, we can compete with Europe, we are not going to compete with Mexico, we never will,” said Van Boekel.