Nissan Workers Overwhelmingly Vote To Decertify UAW
Nearly 70 percent of Nissan workers at a parts distribution facility in New Jersey have voted to decertify the United Auto Workers.
By Peter List, Editor | April 25, 2024
Unionized Nissan employees working at a parts distribution center in New Jersey voted overwhelmingly to decertify the United Auto Workers (UAW) on Wednesday, ending a four-year relationship with the union.
Earlier this month, after the prior contract between the UAW and Nissan North America had expired, employees represented by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, who work at a parts distribution center in Somerset, New Jersey filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to decertify the UAW.
During the period between the petition filing and the NLRB election held on Wednesday, however, the UAW announced that it had agreed to a contract with the company, claiming the contract was ratified with 92% of the members approving it.
Although the UAW did not state how many of the 60 employees actually voted for the contract’s ratification1, because there was a pending decertification election, the Nissan employees’ right to an election superseded the contract agreement.
When the NLRB counted the votes on Wednesday, out of the 60 eligible employees, 54 employees voted and 37 (or 68%) voted against remaining unionized.
Although the election has yet to be certified, which usually takes seven days, the decertification election comes at a time when the UAW is trying to unionize autoworkers of foreign-owned automakers.
Last week, after two failed attempts, Volkswagen employees in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted to unionize with the UAW. Next month, Mercedes-Benz employees will be voting on whether or not they wish to be represented by the UAW.
If, for example, out of 100 employees represented by a union, 10 union members voted and nine out of the 10 voted for contract ratification, a union could claim that 90 percent ratified the contract.