Joey Garrison

USA Today Network - Tennessee

Michael Carter has worked in metal finishing at the Nissan manufacturing plant in Canton, Miss. for 14 years. He appreciates his job with the carmaker but says his benefits have declined and safety concerns have mounted.

He wants his factory to unionize with the United Auto Workers — but he claims the company has used intimidation tactics to fight those efforts.

Carter, 42, was among around 100 people who took labor concerns to a Nissan auto dealership in the MetroCenter area of Nashville on Saturday morning. Union members from seven states, dropped off by bus, marched past empty office buildings and chanted protests before staging a rally across the street from Downtown Nashville Nissan.

“Nissan, respect your workers!” the crowd sang in unison, holding signs that read, “Union. Yes,” “I stand with Nissan workers,” and “Workers’ rights are civil rights.”

The location of the protest was strategic: Just 19 miles south is the corporate headquarters of Nissan North America in Franklin. In Smyrna, Nissan operates what is considered the busiest car manufacturing facility in North America.

A similar protest was held in January outside the Action Nissan dealership on Thompson Lane.

Carter, wearing a black golf hat and tan Nissan jacket, said management has shown him and other co-workers “anti-union videos” that warn the plant will close if they unionize.

“It’s so bad that people are afraid to report injuries,” Carter said. “I like Nissan. It’s a good job, but I feel like I don’t have a voice, and I want that voice. I’m fighting to take that voice back.”

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In a company statement, Nissan rejected these and other claims.

“Nissan's history reflects that we truly value our employees and respect their right to decide who should represent them,” the statement reads. “Nissan Canton and Smyrna employees enjoy good, stable, safe jobs with some of the highest wages and strongest benefits in Mississippi and Tennessee. The allegations being made by the union against Nissan are completely unfounded.”

Parul Bajaj, manager of corporate communication for Nissan, called safety of employees a top priority, pointing to safety and training programs and a record it claims is better than the national average for automotive plants

She also said that accusations of intimidation are false. She said there has never been enough support for a vote on unionizing in Canton and Nissan’s Smyrna plant has twice voted against unionization.

“Nissan respects and values the Canton workforce, and our history reflects that we recognize the employees’ rights to decide for themselves whether or not to have third-party representation.”

The Canton plant, which opened in 2003 and where some 5,000 employees work, has long been a focus for UAW, which has criticized worker safety, the practice of hiring lower-paid temporary workers instead of full-time workers and threats by management about unionizing.

The plant, whose employees are around 80 percent African-American, produces eight vehicle models with a capacity of 450,000 vehicles per year.

In February, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations over the Canton plant’s safety training.

Efforts are coordinated nationally. Union-led protests have taken place in other southern cities seeking the same demands for the Canton plant. The coalition’s goal is to get 60 Nissan dealerships to demand a meeting with individual owners.

Last month, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, actor and activist Danny Glover and others held what they called “The March on Mississippi” to bring attention to concerns at the Canton plant, which is located outside Jackson, Miss.

Organizers say that of Nissan’s 45 plants worldwide, only three — all in right-to-work states in the American South — don’t have unions.

“We deserve that same respect,” Carter said. “If we are one company, let’s be one company.”

Joining the cause at Saturday’s protest in Nashville were representatives from the Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council, Nashville Organized for Action and Hope, the Washington D.C.-based A. Philip Randolph Institute and multiple local black pastors.

“Nissan workers in Mississippi are standing up to say, ‘We’ve had enough. We refuse to be exploited anymore,’” said The Rev. Troy Merritt, Jr., presiding pastor of African Methodist Episcopal Church in Nashville.

“That is why we are supporting Nissan workers today and that is the message that we must send to these dealers, their customers and the company.”

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.