Nissan fends off union pressure in U.S. state of Mississippi

I was a union member in my first job, while there are good points in being a member, unions on a whole have too much power over businesses in western countries. There needs to be a balance or you'll end up like Ford and GM with the taxpayer paying to keep them afloat. Or worse still they'll just move production to Mexico which is slowly happening now.

@wtfjapan How are taxpayer bailouts connected to GM/Ford unions? You mean that they organized to put pressure on pols? Seems like union power has much declined in the States AND manufacturing has moved abroad anyway. I'd guess union membership is at an all-time low in America.

no unions arnt the only reason why GM/Ford needed bailouts but they played a large part, demand higher wages and conditions. One of the downside of the GM bailout was reduced conditions and salaries for its workers, meaning they were too high before the bailout. And now American automakers have the option of moving to Mexico id say they have the advantage over union labour now.

the idea of unions is a good one, and are there upsides for being in one, but they aren't always a good thing. I've been in a few jobs that have had them and haven't had them.

on one hand they did help negotiate raises when the company was thinking of not doing it and the cost of living had gone up, They also once kept me from getting unfairly fired at a job over a big problem that sprung up that pretty much exploded when I was there but the union was able to prove it would of done so for the next person even if they where doing everything right, and I just happened to be the unlucky one so I got off the hook, and they found the person who actually started the domino effect. But on the other hand one time they told us they wanted all of us to go on strike because another company in the union was having one and they where having problems getting them to negotiate so wanted to put more pressure. Pretty much none of us did as we didn't have any issues with our management, and we never meet those other guys. Also more recently I wanted to switch to a different department in the company, the one I'm in doesn't have a union, that one does. But I can't because the Union manged to get a hiring freeze put in place until they get their agreements, so doesn't matter that they need the help and I've heard from people working there they really could use it. but no such luck because of the union.

So yea, I don't think unions are inherently bad, but when it goes beyond just the workers in the one company and becomes an entity itself; that's when unions often hit the slippery slope.

“In every country where Nissan has operations, we follow both the spirit and the letter of the law. Nissan not only respects labor laws, but we work to ensure that all employees are aware of these laws, understand their rights and enjoy the freedom to express their opinions and elect their representation as desired.”

So, why has Nissan denied the workers their rights at the Mississippi plant......?

wtfjapanJul. 27, 2016 - 06:27PM JST

There needs to be a balance or you'll end up like Ford and GM with the taxpayer paying to keep them afloat.

Duhhhh...... Ford never applied for a bailout or got one. They had a line of credit offered to them, if they needed it, but they didn't.

As for GM..the power of the unions had nothing to do with their crash.

As they admitted, their troubles were due to the model of cars that they were producing. They were not the fuel efficient models and oil was over a $100 a barrel. The only they could get the cars they had manufactured of their books was by offering really loose credit terms to customers. When the credit crunch came, they were left holding non-performing loans.