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UAW calls on US State Department to help with Nissan plant

The United Auto Workers is calling for reinforcements in its ongoing battle with Nissan at the manufacturer's Canton, MS factory, where the Altima, Armada, Titan and NV (and eventually, the next Murano) are built. The union has been attempting to organize the employees at the factory for several years, but it's been largely unsuccessful.
Now, Reuters is reporting that the UAW is teaming with the IndustriALL Global Union and requesting intervention by the US State Department, with both groups accusing Nissan of using "threats, intimidation and fear" to keep the 5,600 workers at the facility from organizing. The two unions say this violates the guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international organization dedicated to stimulating economic growth.
The UAW and IndustriALL are asking the State Department's National Contact Point to serve as mediator with Nissan, to make sure things play out fairly. Speaking to Reuters, though, there's at least one Michigan-based labor adviser that's skeptical of the move.

Nissan, Mahindra may bond over EVs

Like Lloyd in Dumb & Dumber rejoicing that he's got a "one out of a million" chance with Mary Swanson, electric-vehicle advocates in India can do the same. That's because both local automaker Mahindra and Japan-based Nissan say they would consider working together to promote EVs in that country. Executives with Nissan and Mahindra, which makes the Reva e2o EV, independently told Autocar Professional that they would consider collaborating with the other company in order to speed up plug-in vehicle adoption in India. Nissan, which already works with companies such as Honda, Mitsubishi and Toyota to various degrees, said this collaboration would most likely revolve around electric-vehicle charging infrastructure advancements, a move that obviously helps all plug-in vehicles. Of course, nothing official has been announced. Last March, the Mahindra Reva e2o, which costs the equivalent of about $11,000, went on sale in India, with the company estimating at the time that it could manufacture 30,000 of the electric vehicles each year. In February, Mahindra debuted two electric cars at the New Delhi Auto Show, including the Mahindra Reva Halo EV concept sports car and the Mahindra Racing Formula E electric race car. The following month, India's Financial Express reported that Mahindra was targeting Sri Lanka and Norway for e2o sales. That car has a 62-mile single-charge range and a top speed of about 60 miles per hour. Featured Gallery Mahindra Reva E2O News Source: Autocar Professional via Cartrade.comImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Gisli Gislason Green Nissan Electric mahindra collaboration

Nissan, Renault break up the Ghosn-style almighty chairmanship

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Japan's Nissan Motor and France's Renault said they would retool the world's top car-making alliance to put themselves on more equal footing, breaking up the all-powerful chairmanship previously wielded by ousted boss Carlos Ghosn. The removal of Ghosn, credited for rescuing Nissan from near-bankruptcy in 1999, had caused much uncertainty about the future of the alliance and some speculation the partnership could even unravel. The companies, together with junior ally Mitsubishi Motors, on Tuesday said the chairman of Renault would serve as the head of the alliance but — in a critical sign of the rebalancing — not as chairman of Nissan. "This is a very special day for the alliance," Renault SA's chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard, told reporters after a meeting at Nissan's Yokohama headquarters. He spoke to reporters along with Renault's chief executive, Thierry Bollore; Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa; and Osamu Masuko, CEO of the smaller Japanese alliance partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Those four executives will meet every month in Paris or Tokyo and oversee various projects, helping to make the companies' operations more efficient, they said. Nissan has said that Ghosn wielded too much power, creating a lack of oversight and corporate governance. It was not clear who would become Nissan's chairman, vacant since Ghosn was arrested in Japan in November. But the automakers gave no indication of any immediate change in their cross-shareholding agreement, one which has given smaller Renault SA more sway over Nissan. The alliance did not announce any changes in mutual stake holdings. The so-called Restated Alliance Master Agreement that has bound them together so far remains intact, they said. "We are fostering a new start of the alliance. There is nothing to do with the shareholdings and the cross-shareholdings that are still there and still in place," Renault Chairman Senard said. "Our future lies in the efficiency of this alliance," he told reporters at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama. Senard also said he would not seek to be chairman of Nissan, but instead was a "natural candidate" to be vice-chairman. Former Nissan chairman Ghosn was released on a $9 million bail last week after spending more than 100 days in a Tokyo detention center.