First Canadian Magna plant is unionized!

UAW president Ron Gettelfinger must be drooling right now. While the UAW has reached new labor agreements now with all three of the Detroit automakers (an agreement with Ford is still pending approval), it's been a long time since it made much significant headway in organizing workers at new companies. Now just weeks after the Canadian Autoworkers Union reached a deal with Magna International that would allow them to try and organize Canadian Magna plants, the first plant has signed up. In the deal, Magna agreed to remain neutral as the CAW attempted to organize its plants. In return, the union agreed not to strike and preserve a performance-based pay structure. This week 250 employees at a Windsor, Ontario door trim parts plant voted overwhelmingly to join the union and accept a new contract that gives them a $3 per hour raise and improved benefits. Magna is the fourth largest auto supplier in the world and has 18,000 employees at 43 plants in Canada that all could potentially be unionized.

[Source: Automotive News - sub req'd]