'Nissan, you made us mad': union promises to fight Mississippi defeat

[turbinetree]

Source: The Guardian

Nissan workers in Canton, Mississippi voted against unionizing on Friday, by a margin of 2,244 to 1,307. The vote was a disappointing defeat for those who hoped to open the door for union organizing across the American south.

“With this vote, the voice of Nissan employees has been heard,” said Nissan spokesperson Parul Baraj in a statement. “Our expectation is that the [United Automobile Workers] will respect and abide by their decision and cease their efforts to divide our Nissan family.”

Pro-union workers said they had no intentions of leaving any time soon. Hardball company tactics against the vote have attracted the attention of federal labor authorities, which could call for a new ballot.

“It ain’t over yet,” union leader Morris Mock told a crowd of dozens Nissan workers. “It ain’t over yet. Nissan, all you did was make us mad. We are gonna fight a little harder next time. We are gonna stand a little harder next time. We are gonna shout a little harder next time because next time we are never gonna give up.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/05/mississippi-nissan-workers-vote-against-union

---

So with their state and federal legislatures attacking health care and wanting to dismantle the cadillac form of health care from the work place, standing besides temp workers undermining your wage and benefits, and state legislatures trying to roll back the federal minimum wage, 2,244 human beings think that the word "union" means exactly what, have you stood back and thought what your state government is doing to you, just a teeny bit and there corporate "union"

[SHRED]

1. Sad

Real sad that workers are duped into not voting to bring democracy and a voice into their workplace.
Idiots.

[turbinetree]

2. What is really disgusting is that businesses and the local media jumped in on the band wagon

and if they were to really take a hard look at how this town and this scab corporation pits people against people it is just amazing

[SHRED]

3. Public officials also

This is especially egregious.

[turbinetree]

4. It is like the whole town business and "officials " are dictaors

vote this way or else.......................really

[SHRED]

5. It was up to the voters to see through all this

They failed.

And now they get to pay the piper.

[turbinetree]

8. Intimidation is still intimidation when you have signs being placed in business windows

basically saying vote no-------------amazing

[SHRED]

9. I understand intimidation

I took my employer to Federal Court and won a civil rights case. And I retired from the same employer years later.

This was a secret vote far removed from personal intimidation.

[SkatmanRoth]

6. It never ceases to surprise me when people vote against their own interests

Without strong unions, factory work will return to what it was a century ago.

[pangaia]

10. Stop letting it surprise you..

We ALL should stop letting ANY of this shit surprise us.

It is reality.

We need to fight it.


HOORAAA!!!!!!!

[yallerdawg]

7. The South's mistrust of Unions...

goes back a generation or two to all the Union jobs that disappeared after everyone fought for and signed up for - textiles, mines, manufacturing.

Federal labor and wage laws fixed a lot of problems, so Unions don't have the anticipated impact they once had.

[ancianita]

11. No paper ballot? There's precedent for them to demand another vote. Where are the lawyers.

I also see where they were threatened and intimidated, both of which should get legal remedies.

[pangaia]

12. "......cease their efforts to divide our Nissan family."

FAMILY, my ass.


But the deplorables swallow it whole...

And the rest of us suffer for it.

[bleedinglib]

13. "UNION MOTTO"

THE INJURY TO ONE
IS THE CONCERN OF ALL !!!

[broadcaster90210]

14. We are a nation of fools.

But in the end, their problem and not mine. They could have voted for this. Sucks to be them. *shrug*

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

15. The UAW fucked themselves when they went along with tiered aka B-scale wages

[leftstreet]

17. +1

I also don't understand why the union brought the vote, knowing it would fail that badly

[MichMan]

19. Leading up to the vote, they stated they were confident it would pass nm

[leftstreet]

20. Apparently they don't read the news

The indictment wasn't a quiet little scandal

[MichMan]

24. It has been front page news in Detroit every day

It has been front page news here in Detroit daily with one story after another all week. Not surprising considering the significance of the auto industry here and it being home to the Big 3 and the UAW.

Wasn't sure how widespread the reporting of this was in other areas of the country

UAW president Dennis Williams tried to down play it, saying it wasn't union money that was embezzled, so it did not affect the membership.

[The Wizard]

16. Surprised Nissan put a plant there

Toyota researched Mississippi as a possible location and found putting the plant in Canada would be more productive and profitable. Canada has better education standards and Toyota saved about $4 an hour labor as Canada has Universal healthcare.

[MichMan]

18. Huge miscalculation by the UAW

Big miscalculation by the UAW. You don't usually call for an election unless you think you have a very good shot of winning. With the vote against being nearly 65-35 %, they severely overestimated their level of support

Expecting the NLRB to order a new vote when the defeat was so overwhelming will not change a damn thing when you get your clock cleaned like that

I wonder what effect the indictments last week against the widow of a high ranking UAW official for him conspiring with Chrysler exec to embezzle millions of dollars might have had.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

22. People will feign agreement just to get proselytizers to shut up and move on

If somebody is going to unionize the foreign automakers it isn't going to be the UAW.

[Bengus81]

21. Reagan would be sooooooo happy!!! n/t

[Blue_Tires]

23. This is why I always throw cold water on the folks

who think America is ripe for some glorious socialist takeover.....

[librechik]

25. Another long-settled issue we must re-fight every generation

at least since the dumbing down movement started with Reagan

I'm pretty sick of this.

[Hoyt]

26. Fact is, people in places like rural Mississippi are glad to have jobs that start at $14/hour with

good health insurance. Whether their fears are rational or not, viewed as against their interests by some, etc., they can remember when there weren't any jobs available, even at $8/hour, and don't want to mess that up. I don't think anyone really knows what's right in this case unless you work there.

I hope they vote and vote Democratic, but that's a different issue.