UAW Calls in the Cavalry to Combat ‘Culture of Fear’ at Nissan Plant

[marmar]

(In These Times) Several years ago, the United Auto Workers began a campaign to unionize roughly 4,000 workers at the Nissan auto plant in Canton, Mississippi. Organizers knew from experience that they would have to reach beyond the factory walls for support in order to achieve their goal. In many ways, the campaign has already made that leap—students at local college campuses have created support groups, and workers as far away as Brazil recently rallied to support a worker whom management had disciplined for his pro-union activities.

And on Monday, April 28, the UAW took that mission another step further. Along with the union federation IndustriALL, it officially requested that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an influential organization of 34 relatively wealthy industrial countries, initiate a review of Nissan’s observance of OECD labor rights standards.

Under this procedure, the “National Contact Point” (NCP) of the United States—a State Department official—would review Nissan’s labor rights record and invite the participation of officials from the UAW, IndustriALL, Japan (Nissan’s corporate home), France (the base for Renault, a major investor in Nissan), and the Netherlands (corporate base for the Renault-Nissan Alliance).

If the unions and the corporation both agree to participate in the process, the American NCP will gather facts about the Canton plant for three months, most likely carrying on confidential talks with the NCPs from other countries. Eventually, he could recommend bringing in a mediator, likely the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Generally, some agreement is reached—or the case is closed—within a year’s time. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/16646/uaw_reminds_nissan_that_the_world_is_watching