An unidentified customer walks out of a Rona store in Toronto's east end on Wednesday February 22, 2012 .Chris Young/The Globe and Mail
A major union has joined the outcry against the proposed takeover of Rona Inc. by Lowe's Cos., the No. 2 home-improvement chain in the United States.
The Teamsters union says it's worried about the survival of jobs if the American company succeeds in buying Canada's largest home-improvement retailer.
The president of Teamsters Local 1999, Serge Berube, says the union is against Lowe's proposal because there are too many unknowns for its members at Rona.
He noted Rona's management and directors have already rejected Lowe's proposal and Quebec's finance minister has spoken against a takeover.
He says the Teamsters union doesn't share Lowe's values in the area of human resource management and may get involved if Lowe's raises its bid.
The union has 125,000 members in Canada and is affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which has 1.4 million members across North America.