The beginning of 2013 marks a renewed commitment on the part of United Auto Workers (UAW) to organize Nissan’s manufacturing plant in Canton. The efforts began last summer and continue to receive mixed reactions from employees.
Mississippi is a right-to-work state, and lawmakers appear hesitant to endorse any union efforts at the plant, despite increasing complaints from hires and some taxpayers disconcerted at allegations of worker mistreatment, despite the reality that state-provided tax incentives facilitated Nissan’s arrival.
Mississippians spent over $378 million in tax revenue to court and eventually sign a deal with Nissan. This figure translates into around $80,000 per employee. Additionally, the city of Canton waived the company’s local taxes for 30 years.
Despite these incentives, Nissan executives warn that attempts to unionize the plant may change Canton into an “uncompetitive” business environment and cause the company to move elsewhere.
An uncomfortable tension exists between the need to recruit jobs to Mississippi and the knowledge that recruiting non-union manufacturing opportunities does little to stimulate long-term job growth and education in the state.
Particularly when considering the global economy, the government advocating low wages as the state’s primary advantage inevitably leads Mississippi into a downward battle with other low-wage states and nations in which tax incentives and below-average hourly rates trump education and high-tech sectors.
These jobs offer short-term solutions to a long-term problem: Mississippi’s persistently low national rankings in both median income and employment opportunity.
Mississippi’s right-to-work legislation reinforces its position as a low-wage state. In short, this law makes compulsory union enrollment illegal.
From the perspective of UAW and other unions, the legislation undermines the very purpose of a union: collective bargaining in which the entire workforce participates. Mississippi legislators argue that right-to-work encourages job growth and lowers unemployment, which is somewhat true and exemplified by the Canton plant.
Regardless, lawmakers and executives advocating this position must also acknowledge the problems arising at the Canton plant, which may be attributable to a lack of collective bargaining.
Some workers hired early in the plant’s history have no complaints in terms of benefits or salary, earning over $20 an hour (although few have opportunities for promotion or salary increase) and prefer to stay outside the union debate. Workers on both sides primarily fear the plant closing or relocating as a result of unionization. MPB reported Monday morning that executives showed workers PowerPoint presentations depicting plant closings in Detroit as a direct result of union strength. Nissan executives also argue that direct employee-employer interactions remain preferable to third-party involvement, a position challenged by some workers.
Nissan employee Michael Carter argues that stagnant wages, decreasing health benefits and an increase in temporary workers (who receive less pay and fewer benefits) threaten his and other workers’ job security and that management largely ignores complaints addressing these grievances. He supports a union vote and argues that Nissan should allow UAW officials to meet with workers en masse to explain their position.
If Nissan truly believes, as they argue, that no good will come from unionization, why does the company argue against a fair hearing for the UAW? The right-to-work legislation supported by these companies purports to allow workers a choice and denying them the opportunity to consider unionization limits this choice. Whether or not employees at Nissan choose to unionize is their decision, and the information they receive regarding that choice should come from more than one perspective. Nissan has an obvious incentive to reduce labor costs that traditionally increase following worker unionization and this fact inevitably influences their anti-union stance.
Workers and citizens of Mississippi deserve transparency from the company, particularly considering the capital given by the state’s residents to facilitate this plant’s existence.
Meghan Holmes is a second-year graduate southern studies student from Arab, Ala. You can follow her @styrofoamcup.
