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21 August, 2001Workers at the Japanese-owned auto assembly plant in Tennessee could mark a turning point if the union vote is successful.
USA: Workers have petitioned the U.S. National Labor Relations Board for a supervised union election at Nissan Motor Company's vehicle assembly plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. The petition seeks to organise 4,100 production and maintenance workers in the United Auto Workers' union.
Although a UAW vote was defeated in 1989, workers at the 18-year-old Nissan plant, which employs over 5,700, are now confident that a majority supports the union. A typical comment on the election came from a rank-and-file worker who said that "we have listened to the company's anti-union message for years. I bought it for a long time, but I'm not buying it anymore. I've seen too many workers injured and too many injured workers mistreated. We need a union."
Should the UAW be victorious, it will mark a turning point in labour relations in the U.S. auto industry, where foreign-owned companies, carefully located in the mostly non-union southern and central states, have never been organised.
Although a UAW vote was defeated in 1989, workers at the 18-year-old Nissan plant, which employs over 5,700, are now confident that a majority supports the union. A typical comment on the election came from a rank-and-file worker who said that "we have listened to the company's anti-union message for years. I bought it for a long time, but I'm not buying it anymore. I've seen too many workers injured and too many injured workers mistreated. We need a union."
Should the UAW be victorious, it will mark a turning point in labour relations in the U.S. auto industry, where foreign-owned companies, carefully located in the mostly non-union southern and central states, have never been organised.