2013/10/07 — Tensions between the United Auto Workers union and Nissan Motor Co.are rising over a push by the union to organize workers at a plant in Canton, Mississippi.

The UAW has been working for the last several years to build support at the factory and is about to expand upon its recent claims that the company is blocking its efforts to meet and communicate with Nissan workers.

On Tuesday the head of the Mississippi NAACP will issue a report in Washington alleging that Nissan is interfering with organizing work by its own employees. It claims Nissan’s actions violate international labor standards.

The release of the report is the latest flare up in the UAW’s broad campaign to unionize foreign-owned auto plants in southern American states. The union is also working to represent workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and at a Daimler plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

The report also reflects the union’s increasing efforts to pressure foreign automakers outside of the United States. The NAACP report will be released overseas, and will be released in Japanese in Japan.

In the Daimler organizing drive, German workers have come to Alabama to help UAW organizers and convince undecided workers to side with the union.

At VW’s plant, an opening has been created for the UAW because of differences between German and American labor laws. In Germany, plants have works councils that provide employee representation in negotiations with management. Under U.S. law, works councils are only allowed if employees are represented by an outside union.

VW’s top management has had talks with the UAW about the possibility of some involvement in a works council in Chattanooga.

The situation at the Nissan plant in Mississippi is more intense than those at the two German plants.

The UAW, which represents factory workers at the Detroit auto makers, claims Nissan’s mangers at its factory in Canton are preventing its workers from participating in union-organizing activities and have threatened to close plants or cut production lines if a union is recognized, according to a media advisory released in advance of the report.

Nissan, in a statement, rejects the allegations, describing the report as “neither objective, nor credible”. The company said it has “never violated labor standards and would never tolerate threats or intimidation of our employees.

The report is written by Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson and Cornell University labor law professor Lance Compa. The UAW intends to hold press conferences in Washington, D.C., as well as Brazil and France, to publicize the report, the latest in a series of events held by the union as it seeks to organize Nissan factories.

The UAW has made winning recognition in the South’s foreign-owned car plants a key objective in its efforts to increase membership rolls after years of decline.

By Christina Rogers and Neal E. Boudette

Source: Wall Street Journal stream

See also:
Escape From Detroit: The Auto Industry Heads South – Corporate Intelligence
VW Plant in Tennessee Becomes Flash Point in Union Drive – WSJ