Linamar's Linda Hasenfratz not worried about union reps in Guelph

CEO of Linamar, Linda Hasenfratz, said yesterday that if people think that having a unionized plant would have retained the 500 lost jobs of weeks past, they're crazy. Further, "What about the CAW workers in the auto plants that are shut down?". Hasenfratz maintains that Linamar's priority is split equitably between employees, customers, and shareholders.

From the Guelph mercury...
About 100 CAW representatives were in Guelph yesterday handing out information packages to Linamar workers.

They started getting calls from employees wanting to join the union after the company laid off about 500 people last week, said John Aman, an organizing director with the CAW.

"The layoffs were almost the straw that broke the camel's back," Aman said. "People don't realize the need for representation, but at crunch time, decisions need to be made. In a unionized environment, workers have a say.

"Workers aren't stupid. They know industry is facing tough times -- they just don't think they should bear the brunt," he said.

The CAW workers were handing out envelopes of information, including a contact slip.

"We will be waiting to get the information from those envelopes, and from e-mail and phone," said Vinay Sharma, a national representative with the union.

"If a lot of people are interested, we will do what it takes."

Linamar has kept unions out of its plants by developing a one-on-one relationship with workers, chief executive Linda Hasenfratz said.

"We value our direct relationship with our employees," she said in response to the leaflet campaign. "We have a philosophy of our employees being of equal importance to our customers and shareholders, and I think people know that.

"I think they appreciate that and know that when we have to make tough decisions like last week, we try to balance as best as we can between employees and shareholders."

She said CAW was suggesting that if Linamar was unionized, the layoffs wouldn't have happened. That's "crazy," she said.

"What about the tens of thousands of employees who are unionized CAW members whose plants have been shut down?" she asked.

None of Linamar's Guelph plants are unionized.