Mark Braboy
News Editor
Citizens of Jackson, Jackson State University students and Nissan United Auto Workers Association supporters converged on the JSU Rose E. McCoy Auditorium on Friday, March 21, in support of the Justice 4 Nissan Workers rally.
The auditorium was packed by many supporters who came to see actor and political activist Danny Glover, hip-hop icon Common and others who spoke and performed at the event held to bring awareness to the plight of the Nissan workers who want to form a union at the Canton, Miss. Nissan plant.
According to many of the workers who attended the event, they are accusing the plant of not allowing its workers to have a voice to represent themselves through firings and intimidation. The workers are calling for a union because they allege they are working under undesirable conditions and are victims of bad management practices.
Morris Mott Jr., an employee of Nissan, was one of the workers who feel that the plant needs to have a union in order to prosper.
“You have to have a voice. We’ve had people who went to the Japanese auto plant; you can tell that there’s a difference. The factory is a lot cleaner, it’s a lot more marketable, and that factory is the best factory that they have. We’re ranked 44 out of 44. So when you have a company ranked 44 out of 44 and the only non-union factory that are there. We’re dead last. Every other factory is unionized, Brazil, Australia, every other factory we know are unionized companies.”
Mario Muskgrove, a graduate student who is a political science major from Laurel, Miss. agrees.
“Not having a union in Mississippi is a symptomatic problem of being a right to work state which is going to be hard for them to fight because it’s a lot of special interest groups. It’s a lot of powerful people that have a vested effort in not allowing workers to unionize. Of course if you could get more workers for less money, what’s the incentive to unionize and provide more? You’re getting maximum efficiency and less money,” said Muskgrove.
Glover, the first celebrity to publicly support this cause, is one of their strongest advocates. He has traveled across the country along with the U.A.W. to bring awareness to the issue with the Canton workers and rallying students from various universities to support the cause.
“Workers were the first ones to put on the agenda a national healthcare system. Remember, unions were the first to do that. And so we have to re-kindle this whole idea around workers having rights that only within the work place and the voice of the workplace, but to collective bargaining. There’s an attack on collective bargaining around this country,” said Glover.
He added: “The moment is right now as we watch real wages remain stagnant among the average American worker. We know that more and more workers are forced to take adjustments in their pay, adjustments in their benefits and healthcare in order to keep their jobs. So we’re here because Nissan made certain promises. Nissan is a foreign multi-national corporation. And so we want to turn the page here. We’re saying that worker’s rights is a civil right.”
The workers who were present also allege that there are many other workers who are anti-union because they are afraid to speak out. However, one worker who asked to remain anonymous feels that if more workers spoke out for themselves there would be no need for a union.
“The union is not going to do anything for us that we can’t do for ourselves. Because at the end of the day, having a union is only going to make things worse for us and it’s not really going to solve the issues that they think they’re going to solve,” he said.
Recently, all attempts to form a union by the UAW and the Nissan workers of the Canton plant have failed. With this new surging moment and endorsements from Sean “Diddy” Combs and rapper Common, they hope to bring further attention and create pressure for the company and the Mississippi politicians.
Some of the students of Jackson State are standing strongly behind the Nissan workers and also enjoyed the event on Friday.
Jasmine Meyer, a senior English major from Greenville, Miss. said, “I think the concert was a very energetic and positive way to get young people involved with the workers at Nissan. I really enjoyed the show and I loved Common. I thank all of the workers at Nissan for coming out and sharing their adversities with us.”
The concert featured performances from local artist, Slimm Pusha, Outspoken Poetry Society, and Chicago, Ill. native Common. Derrick Johnson, the NAACP State Conference President made an appearance as well.
Be First to Comment