CHICAGO, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The stakes are high for the United Auto Workers in Wednesday's scheduled unionization vote at the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn.
A "yes" vote would mark the first unionization of a Japanese-owned plant in the United States and could mark a turnaround in the union's fortunes, which has seen membership decline to just 700,000 from 1.5 million two decades ago, largely because U.S. automakers have lost market-share to foreign companies.
Some 4,800 Nissan workers will vote on whether to affiliate with the UAW or remain non-union. The National Labor Relations Board will oversee the vote.
Analysts see the UAW's chances as better now than ever because of the growing urbanization of the South. The UAW has made three previous efforts to organize the 12-year-old plant, which produces the redesigned Altima sedan, Frontier pickup and Xterra sport-utility vehicles. Production of the flagship Maxima sedan is expected to be moved to the plant from Japan in 2003.
The UAW has long been trying to organize foreign-owned plants. Ann Arbor, Mich., economist Sean McAlinden said a victory Wednesday could encourage the UAW to go next after Honda's assembly plant in Marysville, Ohio.
Bob King, head of the UAW's organizing arm, has been heading up the Smyrna effort. A victory would elevate him within the UAW hierarchy.
"It would change the politics of the UAW," McAlinden told Tuesday's Detroit News.
King told the News the campaign has been different this time.
"There's an energy in the plant that has not been there before," he said. "There's a buzz, a real talk about key issues. We're excited."
A key issue in the organizing effort has been health. Welder Chet Konkle, 36, said the company seems to have an "if you're hurt, you're dirt" policy, refusing to rehire people who have taken time off to heal after an accident.
Plant veteran Vic Wolaver said those who have been at the plant longest are the strongest union supporters.
"If they took a vote of people who have five years or more, it would be easy that the union would come in," he said. "People with five years or less -- they're still intimidated."
But Richard Hannah, a professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University said he sees the UAW's chances as no better than 50-50.
"But that's democracy," he said. "It depends on who shows up to vote that day."
David Meyer, a management professor at the University of Akron, is betting on Nissan.
"We're at a situation where if they win, there's the news," he told Tuesday's Detroit Free Press.
A loss would mean the UAW would have to wait another year before it can call another vote. It could also prove detrimental to the union in the next round of contract negotiations with the Big Three.
Nissan plans no statement on the vote until after the results are tabulated.
