JACKSON, Miss. – A French parliamentarian is visiting Mississippi as part of an effort to pressure Nissan Motor Co. to allow workers at its Canton plant to organize a union.
Christian Hutin, deputy chairman of the Social Affairs Commission of the French National Assembly, is meeting Tuesday with workers, lawmakers and other supporters of the United Autoworkers efforts to unionize the plant’s 6,200 employees.
The French government has an ownership stake in Nissan’s business partner, the Renault Group, and pro-union advocates hope French officials can lobby the company.
Hutin says Nissan unfairly pressures workers to vote against unionizing, something Nissan denies. Nissan opposes unionization, but spokeswoman Parul Bajaj says the company respects labour law and that employees are free to support or reject the UAW.
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This story has been corrected to show the Nissan’s spokeswoman’s last name is spelled Bajaj, not Baraj, and that the French lawmaker’s first name is Christian, not Chrisitian.
