Nissan is under attack from trade unions that say the car company is breaking Olympic guidelines for sponsors of the Rio 2016 Games. Representatives from trade unions in Brazil today hand delivered a complaint letter to Carlos Nuzman, President of the Organizing Committee for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Ambassador Agemar Sanctos, Director of Institutional Relations.
The Number Two Japanese vehicle maker, known for its Leaf EV and green rhetoric, is supplying around 6500 vehicles to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brazil taking place this August as the only motor sponsor.
IndustriALL Global Union’s Brazil affiliates say Nissan’s aggressive anti-union suppression at its plant in Canton, Mississippi is in direct contradiction to the Sustainable Supply Chain Guide for sponsors and suppliers of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, which lists freedom of association among its standards.
“When workers at Nissan began to organize a union, Nissan responded with implied threats that they would leave Mississippi if workers unionized,” says Reverend R. Isiac Jackson, Jr., president of the General Missionary Baptist State Convention of Mississippi and chair MAFFAN – the Mississippi Alliance for Fairness at Nissan.
This 18 February action in Rio de Janeiro saw Brazilian trade unions UGT, Força Sindical, CUT, the National Union of Athletes, as well as the United Auto Workers (UAW) and IndustriALL, unite in support of workers at Canton who “have been intimidated and reprimanded” by Nissan in retaliation for union activities. Nissan workers from Mississippi will also attend the event.
Despite Nissan allowing union representation at other plants around the world, including Brazil, the Nissan North America employee handbook expressly advises workers to decline union membership.
“We are simply asking to be treated with the same respect shown to our unionized colleagues at Nissan and Renault workplaces around the world,” says Nissan Canton employee, Morris Mock. “I am proud to stand alongside my Brazilian colleagues in asking the Olympic Committee to put its values into action.”
In December 2015, following a six-month investigation, the US National Labor Relations Board filed a formal complaint against Nissan charging the company with breaking the law for threatening to terminate workers for union activities, for threatening workers with plant closure for choosing a union, and for unlawfully imposing a uniform policy after hundreds of Canton workers began wearing pro-union t-shirts.
“By attacking the union, creating a climate of fear in Canton and refusing dialogue, Nissan has treated its US workforce as second-class citizens. I hope that Nissan will adhere to the principles of the Rio Olympic Games and change its behavior in Mississippi,” says Mock.
Workers want a union to give a voice to their concerns over health and safety at Canton and to improve the rights of temporary workers, who make up a whopping 40% of the production line workforce. Formal work and safe working conditions are also stipulated in the supply chain guidelines for Rio Olympic sponsors.
