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[Boney]

http://m.truthdig.com/report/item/b...il_rights_leaders_demand_workers_rights_at_ni

While President Donald Trump was tweeting from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, former presidential contender Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was doing something Trump had promised to do throughout his campaign: advocating for workers.

On Saturday, Sanders and former Ohio state senator Nina Turner, a Democrat, led hundreds of workers in a “March on Mississippi” in Canton, Miss., to demand that Nissan grant factory employees the right to hold a union vote free from fear or intimidation.

Also taking part in the march were NAACP president Cornell Williams Brooks, Sierra Club president Aaron Mair, and the actor Danny Glover.

The march culminated in the delivery of a letter to Nissan officials “demanding the company halt its ongoing harassment of African-American workers who are organizing to form a union,” the coalition of rights advocates behind the march, known as the Mississippi Alliance for Fairness at Nissan (MAFFAN), wrote in a statement.

Nissan has come under so much fire for its labor abuses of its Mississippi employees that politicians in France, where Nissan’s corporate partner Renault is headquartered, released a series of videos expressing their solidarity with the Canton workers’ fights for union rights.

“It’s empowering to see so many leaders, both here and abroad, offering their support to us as we speak out against Nissan’s attacks on our civil rights at the plant,” said Nissan employee Morris Mock, who works on the paint line at the Canton plant. “I have two daughters, and I want them to grow up in a community where they will have a real shot at a good future and a decent living. That’s why I’m going to keep fighting for good jobs at Nissan’s plant, no matter what it takes.”

Actor Danny Glover explained why the Nissan fight is important for workers all across America: “So long as we have a haven for oppressive work conditions such as Mississippi, workers are not safe anywhere in the country, because businesses and companies can seek refuge in a state like Mississippi and escape providing proper work conditions for workers throughout this country.”

Here's why Nissan is suppressing the vote in Mississippi #MarchOnMississippi pic.twitter.com/1mzEThLgtU

— Armand Aviram (@armandaviram) March 4, 2017
“What corporations understand is if they stop workers in Mississippi from forming a union, they can keep wages down in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania,” tweeted Sanders.

“It is time for justice for working people,” he told a gathering of workers:

Senator Sanders speaking now to Nissan workers in Mississippi fighting for a union pic.twitter.com/Vfzlmy1yJi

— Armand Aviram (@armandaviram) March 4, 2017
“We cannot save this planet on the back of a degraded labor,” said the Sierra Club’s Mair during the rally.

“What you are fighting for is a righteous fight,” Turner told the Nissan workers. “You are not asking for too much.”

Watch Turner’s full speech here:

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Careful. When MLK marched on that "Hey, don't abuse us! We deserve rights" he was hated but tolerated.

When he started a workers movement...they dropped him.

 

[OG Shaka Zulu]

Careful. When MLK marched on that "Hey, don't abuse us! We deserve rights" he was hated but tolerated.

When he started a workers movement...they dropped him.

Yup. His attempt to unite the poor class is what got him killed. Same thing with the Panthers. RIP Fred Hampton.

It seems like we have to hit the reset button every few decades when it comes to class consciousness. They kill the leaders who pose a threat due to unification and then make the poor whites forget that poor minorities are there allies.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

This movement needs to happen. As a kid I always thought if you put in your 8 hours a day you can make it. Basic shit. 1 bedroom apartment, 1 tv, 1 phone, just basic shit. Of course being a kid that was laughably naive and I didn't realize until I was older how hard my parents had to work for theirs and how fucked over A LOT of other people are in their jobs.

Yup. His attempt to unite the poor class is what got him killed. Same thing with the Panthers. RIP Fred Hampton.

It seems like we have to hit the reset button every few decades when it comes to class consciousness. They kill the leaders and then make the poor whites forget that poor minorities are there allies.

That's what gets me the most. We have FAR more in common than the elites/establishment would like us to realize.

 

[Turbo Killer]

Fuck Nissan, glad I bought a Toyota.

 

[Vicetrailia]

That's what gets me the most. We have FAR more in common than the elites/establishment would like us to realize.

Skin color is such a frustrating thing. But people really love having power over others, damned everything else.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

Eh. The only reason I hate bernie doing this is because trump will take credit. And people wont care that bernie was the one, theyll just beloeve trump did this. Post truth world and all that.

 

[Cesare Borgia]

Eh. The only reason I hate bernie doing this is because trump will take credit. And people wont care that bernie was the one, theyll just beloeve trump did this. Post truth world and all that.

So people should suffer for 4 or 8 more years just so Trump isn't given undue credit by a minority of people (his delusional base)?

 

[ahoyhoy]

So people should suffer for 4 or 8 more years just so Trump isn't given undue credit by a minority of people (his delusional base)?

This is why I object to 100% obstruction of everything Trump might try to do. Not only does it hurt those who might get help right away, it also makes you look like a huge partisan hack.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Skin color is such a frustrating thing. But people really love having power over others, damned everything else.

How else do you make a group of people you give zero shits about and give very little to not view you as their enemy?

Take a group of people and point to them and scream "Them! They're different! They're not like us! Hate them! They'll destroy your kids! They'll hurt your economy!"

 

[Hickbilly Deluxe]

Sooo.... what exactly is Nissan doing that prevents them from voting to unionize? It's not like the company can stop them.

 

[Bonen no Max'd]

Eh. The only reason I hate bernie doing this is because trump will take credit. And people wont care that bernie was the one, theyll just beloeve trump did this. Post truth world and all that.

This is primarily black workers, like 80% I think? I don't know if Trump will take credit for helping unionize black workers lol

I hope for the best here, it would be a great thing if this succeeded unlike the SC attempt.

 

[Acorn]

Workers rights in America? That's cute. God speed.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

So people should suffer for 4 or 8 more years just so Trump isn't given undue credit by a minority of people (his delusional base)?

This is why I object to 100% obstruction of everything Trump might try to do. Not only does it hurt those who might get help right away, it also makes you look like a huge partisan hack.

Because Republicans did the same thing and it won them the white house. Thats why Im for obstructing Trump, that and because Republicans are just more dangerous if you give them even a tiny bit of breathing room.

And you have to realize that its not just his 'tiny' delusional base. Its the senators who enable him, that for the most part were elected by regular republicans. Because at a point you have to start treating the majority of republicans as irrational because they continue electing these officials who are happy in blockading progress. We cant give these people leeway, not even a tiny bit.

This is primarily black workers, like 80% I think? I don't know if Trump will take credit for helping unionize black workers lol

I hope for the best here, it would be a great thing if this succeeded unlike the SC attempt.

Eh, I would say optics, but yeah I suppose Trump would just ignore this and/or blame democrats for unions if it mostly affects black workers.

 

[Bonen no Max'd]

Because Republicans did the same thing and it won them the white house. Thats why Im for obstructing Trump, that and because Republicans are just more dangerous if you give them even a tiny bit of breathing room.

And you have to realize that its not just his 'tiny' delusional base. Its the senators who enable him, that for the most part were elected by regular republicans. Because at a point you have to start treating the majority of republicans as irrational because they continue electing these officials who are happy in blockading progress. We cant give these people leeway, not even a tiny bit.

People unionizing (especially majority black people unionizing with a white minority) is not good politically for Republicans.

 

[kamspy]

I'm curious what the current wage scale is there. Big unions no longer exist to benefit the worker from my experience with them. They've become as corrupt as companies. Unions are awesome in theory, we just need new ones. I'm skeptical of anything the current ones get behind.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

People unionizing (especially majority black people unionizing with a white minority) is not good politically for Republicans.

Im mostly responding about the comment of not 100% obstructing republicans.

 

[Rest]

Sooo.... what exactly is Nissan doing that prevents them from voting to unionize? It's not like the company can stop them.

Tell them that the union is bad for them and that anyone who joins it will be fired. If there's a union vote, that will scare enough people into voting no that it might not succeed. Then Nissan would have a list of all the yes votes, the people who wouldn't be cowed and would keep fighting and does fire them. At that point, naysayers say "I told you so" and reinforce the anti union message, fence sitters think "wow, I guess that was bad, I won't get involved with anything like that in the future," and people that wanted to vote yes but were afraid of losing their job will be scared into never supporting another attempt to unionize.

 

[Mr.Shrugglesツ]

Sooo.... what exactly is Nissan doing that prevents them from voting to unionize? It's not like the company can stop them.

They're hiring temp workers, firing regular employees/cutting hours. Harassing and threatening with job termination.

 

[Ac30]

Where the fuck is Sherrod Brown? He's up for re-election soon.

 

[Hickbilly Deluxe]

They're hiring temp workers, firing regular employees/cutting hours. Harassing and threatening with job termination.

Well, the first one I perfectly legal if a bit scummy. The second one, however, is brutally illegal and can result in pretty awful lawsuits if proven. So I can see them implementing new hiring practices to prevent a union vote, both no company in their right mind would threaten employees with termination over union votes as that could get the union in the door regardless of how the vote may or may not go.

 

[Mr.Shrugglesツ]

Well, the first one I perfectly legal if a bit scummy. The second one, however, is brutally illegal and can result in pretty awful lawsuits if proven. So I can see them implementing new hiring practices to prevent a union vote, both no company in their right mind would threaten employees with termination over union votes as that could get the union in the door regardless of how the vote may or may not go.

Mississippi is a right to work state.

Yay!

 

[kamspy]

Mississippi is a right to work state.

Yay!

Which could have helped them get the factory in the first place.

 

[Boney]

Tell them that the union is bad for them and that anyone who joins it will be fired. If there's a union vote, that will scare enough people into voting no that it might not succeed. Then Nissan would have a list of all the yes votes, the people who wouldn't be cowed and would keep fighting and does fire them. At that point, naysayers say "I told you so" and reinforce the anti union message, fence sitters think "wow, I guess that was bad, I won't get involved with anything like that in the future," and people that wanted to vote yes but were afraid of losing their job will be scared into never supporting another attempt to unionize.

At least it's not latín América level bad where union organizers end up dead in a ditch.

 

[ahoyhoy]

Because Republicans did the same thing and it won them the white house. Thats why Im for obstructing Trump, that and because Republicans are just more dangerous if you give them even a tiny bit of breathing room.

So then put everything they propose under a microscope, but if upon vetting the propsal looks pretty good, why would you block it? For revenge? Is that the political future we should look forward to: Partisan reprisals every 4 years with literally nothing substantial getting done?

Only silver lining of short sighted thinkijg like this is it will hopefully hasten the destruction of the bipolar American system.

 

[Frozenprince]

Good, been a long damn time coming. Workers have needed to unite against their common enemy in the corporate elite for decades now. Hopefully this starts a real movement and not just conciliatory bullshit like always. This should transcend color lines, hope they stay the course.

 

[Hickbilly Deluxe]

Mississippi is a right to work state.

Yay!

Not entirely sure how right to work laws alter things in terms of a union drive, or if they do at all actually. Been a while since I have had to read up on the rules surrounding it all, so I am admittedly rusty on it.

 

[spwolf]

Fuck Nissan, glad I bought a Toyota.

Toyota has successfully fended off union attempts in most of their factories in USA, and Tesla is doing well so far as well. Unions have been losing membership for decades now since most people see them as doing things that benefit the leadership the most, not actual members.

 

[SolarPowered]

Careful. When MLK marched on that "Hey, don't abuse us! We deserve rights" he was hated but tolerated.

When he started a workers movement...they dropped him.

This is my biggest fear. This country absolutely will NOT tolerate a lower and middle class who are not separated by racial animosity, stereotypes and prejudice.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

So then put everything they propose under a microscope, but if upon vetting the propsal looks pretty good, why would you block it? For revenge? Is that the political future we should look forward to: Partisan reprisals every 4 years with literally nothing substantial getting done?

Only silver lining of short sighted thinkijg like this is it will hopefully hasten the destruction of the bipolar American system.

You do it until you control the branches

and then you gut everything that gives them power. It's like, thank god the current administration is incompetent at best, and racist at worst.