Bloomberg - Bernie Sanders Joins Groups Urging Nissan to Stop Fighting UAW

The Vermont senator intends to deliver a letter addressed to Jose Munoz, the chairman of Nissan’s North American unit, on Saturday following a march to the automaker’s plant in Canton. Signers including Sanders and actor Danny Glover refer in the letter to a 2015 National Labor Relations Board complaint regarding alleged anti-union conduct by Nissan management and recent occupational safety citations at the plant.

‘Deserve Better’

“We believe that Nissan employees in Canton deserve better -- and that workers’ rights are civil rights,” the letter reads, according to an advance copy obtained by Bloomberg News. “We look forward to the courtesy of a response.”

French Support

The UAW has also found support in France. The nation’s government is a major shareholder of Renault SA, Nissan’s alliance partner.

“We cannot accept that France and the French state shareholder of Renault scoff at the claims of their workers in the United States, while claiming to defend them in France,” Yannick Jadot, the former French green party presidential candidate, said in a French-language video posted on Twitter Friday.

Sanders suggested President Donald Trump should follow his example. “It would be wonderful if tomorrow as we rally in Mississippi in support of workers who want a union, if President Trump would sent out a little tweet saying ‘I support the Nissan workers in their struggle for decent wages, decent benefits, and for a safe work environment.’ Now that would be a remarkable tweet.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-03/bernie-sanders-joins-groups-urging-nissan-to-stop-fighting-uaw