Nissan plant votes against unionizing

A UAW supporter sings as she tries to beat the hot sun outside an employee vehicle entrance at the Nissan vehicle assembly plant in Canton, Miss., Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. Union members set up informational lines outside employee entrances at the plant and greeted all shifts of workers arriving and leaving, reminding workers to vote for the union. The vote for union representation of line workers concludes Friday evening. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
A UAW supporter sings as she tries to beat the hot sun outside an employee vehicle entrance at the Nissan vehicle assembly plant in Canton, Miss., Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. Union members set up informational lines outside employee entrances at the plant and greeted all shifts of workers arriving and leaving, reminding workers to vote for the union. The vote for union representation of line workers concludes Friday evening. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

CANTON, Miss. -- Workers at a Nissan assembly plant in Mississippi have rejected union representation, adding to decades of futility by United Auto Workers organizers at foreign-owned auto plants in the American South.

A spokesman for Nissan Motor Co. said late Friday that the union lost a vote by 3,700 eligible workers. Nissan says the final vote total was 2,244 to 1,307.

As polls closed, the union formally asserted that Nissan with breaking federal law in its anti-union campaign, filing seven new claims against the automaker.

Nissan denies wrongdoing and says the United Auto Workers seeks to undermine the vote.

The National Labor Relations Board will consider the charges and could add them to a series of allegations in a complaint the federal labor regulator has issued against Nissan. Federal officials could eventually order a new election.

The union's yearslong effort at Nissan focused on linking civil rights and workers' rights for the majority-black workforce. Nissan warned a union would hurt its economic competitiveness.

A Section on 08/05/2017

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