Nissan Workers Get Pay Hike Without A Union

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Nissan workers will get a pay raise without the help of the Union. Or maybe they get a pay raise to help keep the union out.

Nissan has told its employees it will increase their wages starting in October at its Canton, Miss., and Smyrna, Tenn., assembly plants, as well as its Decherd, Tenn., engine plant. Pay will increase by 55 cents an hour for production employees and 65 cents an hour for maintenance technicians, the Washington Post says.

According to the Post, “the pay raises come as the United Auto Workers try to unionize workers at the Canton and Smyrna plants.“

On top, all workers, including contract workers, will receive what Nissan calls “recognition payments” in June. Those bonus payments were stopped for a time during the recession.

Nissan says production workers in Canton now make an average of $24.47 an hour, while maintenance workers make $28.49, on average. In Smyrna, the company says production workers make $26.47 on average, while maintenance workers make $30.49 on average.

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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  • Stumpaster Stumpaster on Apr 13, 2013

    Lemme whip out my good ol'googoe kalkulatur...55 cents times 2000 hrs...yup, momma, we gunna bring 1100 more per year before taxes. I am elated.

  • Guildenstern Guildenstern on Apr 13, 2013

    Geez, you only get $4/hr more for actually knowing how to fix things Vs. just knowing how to put tab A into slot B? That sucks.

  • Skor Skor on Apr 13, 2013

    How many of you work/ed in an auto assembly plant? I had relatives who worked at Ford Mahwah and Ford Edison Assembly....all gone to their maker now....the relatives and the factories.. I'm guessing that most of you wouldn't have lasted a week on the line.

    • See 10 previous
    • Geeber Geeber on Apr 15, 2013

      @billfrombuckhead A red herring argument. The Germans, Japanese and South Koreans are setting up factories HERE, in the United States, and are offering their employees health care coverage. And they are still making money while charging competitive prices for their vehicles. The North American operations of Honda, for example, are more successful than its Japanese operations. The United States DOES offer health care coverage for retirees. It's called Medicare. If nationalized health care is so great, why didn't the UAW simply allow all retirees to be covered by Medicare? That would have saved the companies a ton of money. The UAW would never hear of it. The companies could have improved their competitive position if they had crafted their retiree benefits package to reflect longer life spans and the increased cost of health care. But the UAW refused to hear of it, until it was too late.

  • Big Al from Oz Big Al from Oz on Apr 14, 2013

    It seems the title of this article is about a payrise. Supply and demand will increase wages more than any union involvement. Look at Australia, when you have nearly full employment competition for workers increase. Wages and salaries go up across the board. Then like the US a bubble bursts jobs disappear and pay drops. Simple economics. As a country the worker don't deserve more pay until they are competitive and are an asset. Unions used to be very good about 150 years ago when child labour etc was stopped. But now they will destroy economies and countries because of their ideals. Most OECD governments have quite comprehensive work regulations now. Some are over the top and created by unions.

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