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PoliticsBernie Sanders backs UAW at Mississippi Nissan rally as 5,000 activists gather
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An estimated 5,000 southern union activists gathered in Canton, Mississippi, to support a 13-year struggle by United Automobile Workers (UAW) to unionize Nissan's 5,000 workers. The rally, held two weeks after a union defeat at Boeing in South Carolina, featured a broad coalition including BlackLivesMatter, church groups, the Sierra Club, the ACLU, and the NAACP. More than 80% of Nissan's Canton workers are Black. Senator Bernie Sanders addressed the crowd, calling a win at Nissan a 'tremendous bolt of confidence' for workers nationwide. Participants came from multiple states and even Brazil, and the event was compared to mobilizations seen during the civil rights movement. The coalition is seeking to build large-scale community movements to counter anti-union forces nationally and in the White House.
Source report
For a mile outside the Canton Multipurpose Complex on Saturday, the road was backed up. Many cars sported bumper stickers supporting Bernie Sanders and pro-union causes.
Attendees arrived in school buses, hot rods, church vans, and motorcycles, with license plates from Missouri, Texas, North Carolina, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. A delegation of a dozen Nissan workers even traveled from Brazil to support United Automobile Workers (UAW) activists who have faced illegal retaliation during a 13-year struggle to unionize the Japanese automaker's 5,000 workers in Mississippi.
"I feel their pain because we have been through the same thing with Mercedes," said Kirk Garner of Vance, Alabama, who has been part of the decade-long UAW effort to unionize at that facility.
A Growing Movement in the South
Two weeks after the defeat of the Machinists Union at Boeing in South Carolina, an estimated 5,000 southern union activists gathered in Canton to lay the foundation for what they hope will be large-scale community movements necessary to defeat anti-union forces nationwide—and in the White House.
As they marched on the plant during an unusually warm March day, workers sang:
"We are ready, We are ready, We are ready, Nissan."
Broad Coalition Building
Workers have organized a community coalition called the Mississippi Alliance for Fairness at Nissan, which includes:
- #BlackLivesMatter activists
- Church groups
- The Sierra Club
- The American Civil Liberties Union
- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
The coalition is calling for a mobilization not seen in the South since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
A Potential Game-Changer
More than 80% of Nissan's workers in Canton are Black. A win at Nissan could be a transformative moment for labor organizing in the region.
On Saturday, the crowd heard from a guest speaker, Senator Bernie Sanders, who addressed the 5,000 attendees:
"If we can win here at Nissan, you will give a tremendous bolt of confidence to working people all over this country. If you can stand up to a powerful multinational corporation in Canton, Mississippi, workers all over this country will say, 'We can do it too.'"
Source
RedCafe.netWestern
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Southern Union Activists Rally in Mississippi to Support Nissan Workers