Posts tagged Nissan
The Undercover Organizers Behind America’s Union Wins
April 5, 2023 // The practice of joining a workplace with the secret aim of organizing it is called “salting.” Westlake was addressing recruits at the Inside Organizer School, a workshop held a couple times a year by a loose confederation of labor organizers. At these meetups, experienced activists train other attendees in the art of going undercover. Speakers lecture and lead discussions on how to pass employer screenings, forge relationships with co-workers and process the complicated feelings that can accompany a double life. Most salts are volunteers, not paid union officials, but unions sometimes fund their housing or, later, tap them for full-time jobs. Workers United, the Service Employees International Union affiliate that’s home to the new Starbucks union, hired Westlake as an organizer around the time the coffee chain fired him last fall.
Nissan tool and die workers vote against union at Tennessee plant
March 17, 2023 // By a vote of 62 to 9 with 97% participation, workers at a Nissan manufacturing facility have again voted overwhelmingly against union representation and elected to maintain their direct relationship with the company. Nissan respects this decision, and we remain focused on working with employees to drive our future forward together," she said. Union spokesman DeLane Adams provided a statement, saying the union would continue to support the workers "so we will be prepared for them to join our union when the time is right again." The statement highlighted the length of the campaign, which began in 2021, with the union attempting to create a small group of organized workers within the plant rather than attempting to organize the entire facility.
Union membership grows the fastest of any state in Tennessee over the past two years
January 24, 2023 // The number of Tennessee workers belonging to labor unions has grown over the past two years at the fastest rate of any state in the country. Fueled by a growth in unionized government employees, building trades and autoworkers, union membership in Tennessee jumped by more than 39% from the pandemic low in 2020 to reach 163,000 members last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For all its gains, however, organized labor still represents only a fraction of workers in Tennessee, especially in the private sector. Last year, 5.5% of all workers across Tennessee were union members, or only about half of the 10.1% share of workers nationwide who belong to a labor union, according to the statistics bureau.
Biden OSHA Revives Union-, Worker-Friendly Inspection Rep Rule
January 19, 2023 // “It was a backdoor way to unionize, outside the bargaining process,” Conn said, adding that she’s not surprised the policy is seeing a revival considering the Biden administration’s pro-union stance. Who Gets Say This OSHA rule could clarify the role of union representatives during inspections, said Steve Sallman, director of safety and health for the United Steelworkers. Employers with union workforces generally understand that their employees can designate a union local member to participate in an inspection, Sallman said. But there have been problems when a national union office sends a staff member who isn’t an employee at the workplace to participate in an inspection, Sallman said. Employers have refused to let national union representatives into worksites, sometimes leading to OSHA seeking a court order to allow the participation.
The Motor City is moving south as EVs change the automotive industry
August 15, 2022 // Detroit is the city that “put the world on wheels,” but it’s towns like Spring Hill and others in neighboring states that are attracting the most investments from automakers in recent years, as production priorities shift to a battery-powered future with electric vehicles. Companies more than ever want to build EVs where they sell them, because the vehicles are far heavier and more cumbersome to ship than traditional models with internal combustion engines. They also want facilities for battery production to be close by to avoid supply chain and logistics problems. SPRING HILL, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Hyundai Motor, Rivian Automotive, workforce, supply chain and logistics, lowest electricity prices,
UAW, more than 60 workers at non-union automakers eye organizing push
June 28, 2022 // Amid a nationwide surge in worker momentum and public support for unions, the United Auto Workers is making a renewed push to build on-the-ground interest in organizing non-unionized auto plants. More than 60 workers at 10 automakers that don't have contracts with the UAW met late last month in Birmingham, Alabama, to discuss how to organize plants across the country, UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada told The Detroit News. Steve Cochran, Susan Schurman,
To Help Workers, Unions and Democrats Should Support Scott’s ERA
April 13, 2022 // The ERA’s policies are wildly popular. Recent polling shows that 70% of those polled – including 76% of individuals in union households – believe that workers should have the right to a secret ballot. Other major provisions – including the right to withhold dues from political spending, privacy protections, and the criminalization of union threats – poll at an average favorability of 70%.
The ‘most pro-union president’ ever has been a dud for workers
March 15, 2022 // President Biden repeatedly has promised to be “the most pro-union president in American history.” But there’s one key group of people standing in his way: The tens of millions of workers who want nothing to do with union membership.