Posted 3/16/23

Several workers among thousands at a Nissan factory in Tennessee will hold a long-delayed vote on whether to unionize today. Those leading the drive hope for an elusive win at a foreign-owned auto assembly plant in the traditionally antiunion South.

After years of legal wrangling, organizers successfully argued that the group of 75 tool and die technicians are eligible for standalone representation because they have extremely specialized skills for a job that can’t be done by others at the facility.

The Japan-based company has contended the employees are not sufficiently distinct from other plant workers to be eligible for their own unionized bloc.

Organizers have cited a variety of reasons to unionize at the Nissan plant in Smyrna, those include retirement, work-life balance and health care issues they want to negotiate.