Workers at Dana Holding in Stockton, Calif., celebrate their affiliation with UAW Local 76. They make Toyota truck frames for New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI), a joint venture of General Motors and Toyota Motor Corp., in Fremont, Calif.

Workers at the Dana Holding Corp. truck frame assembly plant in Stockton, Calif., realized the nation’s economic downturn could mean layoffs in their own plant.

“We just wanted a fair process,” said Romeo Cabocan, a production line quality worker at the plant for nearly 12 years. “We wanted something that was fair for the workers.”

Instead, the company laid off workers with no regard for seniority, and the workers decided it was time to join the UAW.

More than 70 percent of about 250 workers at the Dana plant voted to form their own union in a card-check recognition on Feb. 16.

“There are other reasons for becoming UAW, too,” said Arturo Limpin, a 10-year Dana worker. “But how layoffs are handled was something our members could really relate to right now.”

Previously, these Dana workers voted “no” to joining the Sacramento-based Sheet Metal Workers in 2004, and they also rejected the Shop Ironworkers in 2005.

But workers said the third time was the charm for their UAW victory.

Dana workers at the Stockton plant make Toyota truck frames for New United Motors Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI), a joint venture of General Motors and Toyota Motor Corp., in Fremont, Calif.

The new members of the amalgamated local, led by a temporary bargaining committee, will prepare to bargain their first contract.

Local 76 also represents more than 700 workers at Chrysler Parts Distribution Center and Excel in Lathrop, Calif.; Ford Parts Distribution Center in Manteca, Calif.; Injex in Hayward, Calif.; and Dakkota, Eurest and Premier in Fremont.

“It was their time,” said Jim Soldate, Local 76 president. “Seniority was something that was a major concern for them, and it made them take a good look at the importance of fairness in the workplace.”

Sandra Davis