Can Nissan Organizers Ever Pass Finish Line in Mississippi?
As the UAW prepares to vote on unionizing a Nissan auto plant in the South, experts in the industry have mixed views on the likely outcome. At the Canton, Mississippi plant, the UAW has struggled for over a decade to organize workers, and tried for even longer to organize workers at any Southern manufacturing plant. The Canton plant is one of only three Nissan plants in the world where workers remain unrepresented. Generally, unions see more success in the North, where there is a history of labor organization, unlike in the South. Some believe that for the same reason, unionization at Canton is likely to fail, especially because the UAW has not won an election in Mississippi since 1990. Other experts believe that a win is still possible, largely because the UAW has been working to present unionization as a civil rights issue. Employees at the Canton plant are mostly African-American, and the UAW has used support from celebrities, the NAACP, and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders to help their cause.
See "Can Nissan Organizers Ever Pass Finish Line in Mississippi?", Jaclyn Diaz, Bloomberg BNA, July 12, 2017