Australian transport giant Toll Group has welcomed a move by its Los Angeles truck drivers to hold union elections.
The company, however, has labelled a campaign run by America's largest union for transport workers, The Teamsters, as being "over-hyped and misleading".
"Toll believes it should be up to employees, via this official ballot, to decide whether they need representation, and welcomes this latest development," Andrew Ethell, Toll Group's general manager of group corporate affairs, said.
"A recent step in the union's misleading campaign is to seek to damage the brands of some of our high profile customers for working with us.
"We believe the union has seriously damaged their claim to be acting in our employees' interests by seeking to undermine the hard-won customer work of Toll employees in the US and around the world."
Toll has been locked in a high-profile dispute with the Teamsters for seven months, with drivers and the union claiming 26 drivers were sacked in October when they donned T-shirts with union logos.
The union and drivers have also complained about "third world" conditions at Toll's LA facility, including filthy portable toilets and no running water or access to shelter during their breaks.
Toll rejects this and points to a California Occupational Safety & Health Administration audit of the facility in December that found no violation.
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