Stuck in neutral
Greener cars come slowly to unions
BY Stephen Hui
Photography by Reuters: Rebecca Cook
Shopping for a new car presents the socially responsible consumer with an ethical dilemma: buy the gas guzzler manufactured by unionized workers or the low-emission, non-union-made alternative? But for Canadian labour union members, there’s no quandary—if a product wasn’t forged in a North American union shop, they’re not buying it.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, the country’s largest union, with over 560,000 members, lists 18 models that eligible staffers may lease. All must be union-made, ideally in Canada. Since North American unionized factories have hardly been on the cutting edge of hybrid technology, CUPE staffers drive such oil burners as the Ford Escape and various minivans. The union is making an effort to go greener; last year it added Saturn’s built-in-Tennessee hybrid electric vehicle to its list of approved cars.
At the Canadian Labour Congress, a federation of unions representing 3.2 million workers, car allowances can be used only on vehicles that meet certain conditions. While two of these—cars must be less than six years old and possess engines no larger than six cylinders and four litres—encourage the use of greener autos, the fact that the vehicles must be manufactured and assembled in Canadian Auto Workers- or United Auto Workers-unionized plants means that staffers can’t take advantage of the most fuel-efficient cars.
