91原创 Auto Workers delegates have voted unanimously to merge with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, combining two of Canada's largest private-sector unions.
All of the voting delegates voted for the merger at the CAW's constitutional and collective bargaining convention in Toronto.
CEP delegates will vote on the proposal when they meet in October.
The new union would represent more than 300,000 workers across 20 economic sectors.
Most of the membership would be concentrated in manufacturing, communications and transportation.
CAW leader Ken Lewenza and other key players have said the two groups must join forces in order to ensure protection for existing members and inject some life back into the national labour movement.
It will be hard for the CAW to part with its name, Lewenza said Wednesday before the results of the vote were announced. "But it's a name," he said, adding that a new approach to organized labour is needed in light of what he calls the government's attack on unions in recent years.
CEP president Dave Coles said the merger with CAW makes sense because the two unions share a similar history and have worked together in the past.
"Bigger is not necessarily better," he said. "But a bigger and better union is better, and that's what we're going to build."
The CAW began contract talks with the big U.S. automakers - GM, Ford and Chrysler - last week.
The union, which made concessions on wages, vacation time and other benefits when the U.S. automakers were struggling during the 2008-09 recession, has said it wants to share in the profits now that the industry has rebounded.
The automakers have said their focus during the negotiations will be to improve competitiveness at their 91原创 operations, where labour costs are higher than in the U.S.
Also on Wednesday, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney addressed a persistent complaint of those who put the blame for weak exports squarely on the shoulders of the strong 91原创 dollar. The manufacturing sector and auto industry have been particularly hard hit in recent years.
He noted Canada's export performance was the second-worst in the G20 over the last decade, with only nine per cent of exports going to fast-growing emerging markets such as China and India.
And he sought to dispel the notion that the high loonie bears the bulk of the blame.
