UAW Hopes For Breakthrough At Nissan, Again

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

According to Automotive News [sub] and other media reports, the UAW is trying again to unionize Nissan’s Canton, Miss,, plant. A rally was held over the weekend. It is hard to believe that the UAW is serious, given the fact that it had tried two times, and failed two times.

It is amazing that anyone would be trying to organize in the Deep South. According to Gulf Live, “the UAW had representation in place at one Southern auto plant.” That was Saturn’s Spring Hill plant, and it is closed. If it is opened again, the UAW can proudly announce that it is welcome in the South.

Someone else does not think the UAW is serious. The National Labor Relations Board told the Associated Press that no petition has been filed seeking a union vote in Canton.

On the other hand, now is a good time to try. Workers at all Japanese transplant plants are working around the clock to meet the increased demand. Handing out some bonuses probably would destroy any chances of union success.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Praxis Praxis on Jun 06, 2012

    They need to wait until card check makes voting illegal. They will never win an anonymous vote.

    • See 1 previous
    • Indi500fan Indi500fan on Jun 06, 2012

      They couldn't pass card check in 09/10 when Dems controlled POTUS, House, and Senate. Then the UAW bought into tier 2, which effectively made their "new" employees lower paid than a lot of the transplant workers.

  • Da Coyote Da Coyote on Jun 06, 2012

    I have avoided purchasing Nissan at various times after looking at the reliability ratings. I can only imagine how much worse they'll get when the UAW gets involved. Don't do it, Nissan workers.

  • El scotto El scotto on Jun 06, 2012

    I grew up in the Midwest. UAW wages put a lot kids through college and let families live a middle class lifestyle. Yes, the UAW should have recognized that American auto makers were getting beat like a drum and changed some things. I squarely put the downfall of the US auto industry on the clueless suits running said companies who were NOT UAW members. I also support trade unions and the living wage. Trade union members are trained to do a job right via classes and hours of on-site work. Kinda nice to know your wiring and gas lines were done correctly. Then again, if I was a latte sipping coastal hipster; I'd say simians could fix or build anything

    • Bikegoesbaa Bikegoesbaa on Jun 07, 2012

      I grew up in the Midwest, too. I often heard UAW and other industrial union members bragging about how much they get paid and how little they have to work for it. Now I hear the same guys griping about how all the jobs went away. No kidding? It usually goes something like this: "Yeah, I had a good thing going down at the mill. I was making eighty grand a year with a GED, came in late, left early, and spent most of the time I was there reading a magazine. Then the suits closed the plant and put me out of a job, those greedy SOBs!" As for quality of work, you may be on to something. After all, the non-union workers at US Honda, Subaru, and Toyota plants produce a notoriously low-quality product; and it shows in their low resale, poor reliability ratings, and the huge incentives required to sell the cars. No, wait, that's the UAW-built products they compete with. I'm not going to go so far as to say that union workers can't build a car well; but the available evidence indicates that non-union workers absolutely can.

  • Musiccitymafia Musiccitymafia on Jun 08, 2012

    Without doubt part of the blame lies with the nameless suits. It's the part where they didn't stand up to the unions and say "We don't give a damn what's in the friggin' ten thousand pound bargaining agreement ... we must cut cost, increase quality, increase flexibility, and increase R&D and WE MUST DO IT NOW" The non-working relationship between the two sides is the root of the problem. Each side expected, or rather hoped, that the other side would solve the competitive problem. Both sides were too weak or too self-indulgent to "demand" that a mutual solution be found.

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