• It’s Nissan turn to announce wage increases for its U.S. plant employees.
The agreement reached between the United Automobile Workers (UAW) and the Big Three automakers continues to positively impact on non-unionized workers at U.S. plants belonging to foreign automakers. Those workers might want to consider sending a big thank you note to their unionized brothers and sisters at the Big Three automakers.
Hyundai, Toyota and Honda have already announced significant wage increases for their workers; now Nissan has done the same. The Japanese automaker will raise top salaries of workers at its U.S. plants by 10 percent in January.
The wage increase will be effective from January 8 for production, maintenance and tooling technicians. Workers who have not yet reached the highest level will also benefit from a pay rise.
Nissan employs around 14,000 production workers at two assembly plants and one engine plant in Tennessee and Mississippi. In all, some 9,000 those will be seeing their wages increase.
The company also emphasized that it would be eliminating wage tiers for U.S. production workers.
The moves by the foreign automakers comes as the UAW says it will work to unionize workers at non-union plants, including those operated by Tesla. The White House supports the union's efforts to do so.
For its part, Nissan explains that the wage increases reflect its commitment to its U.S. employees and to “enhancing our competitiveness”.
That's noble, but the truth is that without the Big Three agreement, employees would not have benefited from these increases, at least not as quickly. In a period of low unemployment, foreign automakers are aware they can’t afford to lose workers to the Big Three, and this has to be seen as an attempt to ward off unionization attempts by the UAW.
Still, those automakers deserve recognition for having reacted and stepped up to retain their workers.
The UAW's agreements with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis provide for a 25-percent increase in base wages through 2028, including an immediate 11-percent increase. In all, wages will rise by 33 percent to more than $42 an hour.
The agreement also reduces the number of years required to reach the highest salary level, from eight to three. Wages of temporary workers are increasing by 150 percent, and those workers will gain permanent status. The agreement also includes significant pension improvements.
Nissan says that over the past three years, it increased wages at its three production sites by a total of between 12 and to 18.5 percent, reduced the time it takes to reach the highest wage level from eight to four years, added two paid holidays and increased paid parental leave for production workers.
Now we'll see what happens with the union's efforts. One thing's for sure, Nissan, like the others, is doing everything it can to keep its workers satisfied with their conditions.
Note that in Canada, Honda and Toyota both said earlier this month that they’re looking at the wage increases gained by Canadian workers at the big three US automakers following the agreement ratified by the Unifor union. Adjustments can be expected.