Nissan North America Inc. technicians in Tennessee voted against unionization on Thursday, the latest defeat for organizing efforts at foreign automakers in southern U.S. states.
The workers, at the automaker’s plant in Smyrna, Tenn., voted 62-9 against joining the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, known as the Machinists union, National Labor Relations Board spokesperson Kayla Blado said in an email.
In an emailed statement, Nissan said workers “elected to maintain their direct relationship with the company. Nissan respects this decision, and we remain focused on working with employees to drive our future forward together.”
The union petitioned in 2021 to represent the group of around 86 tool and die technicians at the factory. The company successfully persuaded a regional NLRB director that any union election should instead include the thousands more employees at the plant, but a panel of labor board members in Washington D.C. overturned that decision last month, paving the way for Thursday’s election.
