March 3, 2008 at 12:00 AM
The CAW welcomed 750 new members from the Greater
Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) following a week-long representation vote that
affected maintenance, skilled trades, baggage handling, operations, office and
technical administration employees throughout Toronto's Lester B. Pearson
International Airport.
In March 2007 the GTAA applied to the Canada
Industrial Relations Board to consolidate three existing bargaining units into
one unit of approximately 900 workers.
The CIRB later agreed that a representation vote
should be held for workers to democratically select which of the two existing
unions (CAW and the Public Service Alliance of Canada) would represent the newly
formed unit.
"This is truly a great victory for the GTAA
workers, the latest to join our growing union," said CAW national president Buzz
Hargrove. "I want to congratulate all PSAC members for their determination in
what was a hard fought campaign and encourage them to join with their new
colleagues in continuing to build a strong union."
These new members join the over 2,500 active CAW
members currently working at Pearson Airport and over 9,000 air transport
workers in Local 2002.
"Now we have to roll up our sleeves and get to
work to ensure these workers receive the best agreement and the best workplace
representation possible," added Hargrove.
"Our leadership and activists fought hard to
ensure that these workers were given a chance to decide which union they wanted
to represent them," said Leslie Dias, president of CAW Local 2002. At the onset,
Local 2002 only represented 160 workers in the larger 900 member unit.
"I believe that our union's commitment to the
principles of democracy and our commitment to the workers shone through in this
campaign and tipped the scale in our favour."
Representation votes took place at the airport
from February 26 to March 1. Final results were tallied on March 3.
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