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PoliticsAbout 5,000 southern union activists rally in Mississippi to support Nissan workers' UAW drive
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An estimated 5,000 southern union activists and supporters gathered in Canton, Mississippi, to rally in support of United Automobile Workers (UAW) efforts to unionize Nissan's 5,000 workers at a local plant. The event, held two weeks after a union defeat at Boeing in South Carolina, featured a broad coalition including #BlackLivesMatter activists, church groups, the Sierra Club, and the NAACP. More than 80% of Nissan's Canton workers are Black. Senator Bernie Sanders addressed the crowd, calling a potential win at Nissan a 'tremendous bolt of confidence' for workers nationwide. Participants came from multiple states and even Brazil, highlighting the regional and international significance of the labor struggle, which has faced illegal retaliation over 13 years.
Source report
For a mile outside the Canton Multipurpose Complex on Saturday, the road was backed up with vehicles sporting pro-Bernie and pro-union bumper stickers. The crowd 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 workers there.
Building a Movement
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.”
A Broad Coalition
The 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 (ACLU)
- 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 game-changer for labor organizing in the region.
On Saturday, the rally featured a guest speaker: Senator Bernie Sanders.
“If we can win here at Nissan, you will give a tremendous bolt of confidence to working people all over this country,” Sanders told a crowd of 5,000. “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