By: tnbumblebee on 7/30/08
Nissan hasnt hired a production employee with benefits since their last buyout a year or 2 ago. They have found it is cheaper to hire temporary employees with no benefits than hire them fulltime. Pretty sad in my opinion.

By: Gene_O on 7/31/08
tnbumblebee: What's sad is your twisted logic.

I guess it's okay that Wal-Mart (or 150 other businesses in our county) never bothered to paid anyone as much as $10? But "evil old Nissan" paid high school graduates like kings until a couple years ago when NAFTA forced them to compete with China.

So now they're the "villain" for only paying $7/hour more than Wal-Mart now instead of $20/hr. more? That's right, Nissan temps still make far more than you can make anywhere else around here without a degree.

Oh, and instead of just laying them off like GM and Ford, they're offering $125,000 and health care. How heartless of them!

Some people in this county lack the both intelligence or the perspective to ever be taken seriously.

By: tnbumblebee on 7/31/08
Geno 0 Twisted logic???
First of all Walmart doesnt demand property tax relief to buld a walmart superstore as Nissan does.
Walmart deesnt ask the state of tennessee for money to train their workers as Nissan does

Walmart doesnt threaten to move up and leave if they cant get tax cuts for their profits as Nissan does.
If you want to compare apples and oranges fine but to give this company any tax cut is way out of bounds. Now since all they will hire from now on is temporary employees with no benefits(same as Walmart) they shouldnt be entitled to any tax cuts. Mark my work,Rutherford county,the city of smyrna,lavergne and murfreesboro will raise taxes because of this.

By: lupusman on 7/31/08
Another national article in the DNJ today talked about how the Altima Hybrid was named one of the best "green" cars in the US and how great it was. BUT although the car is produced in Smyrna, it is only available in 4 or 5 states - TN NOT one of them. If this vehicle is so awesome and will be in high demand, why not increase their production in Smyrna and NOT payoff all those employees!

By: devolver on 8/2/08
I worked at the Nissan plant in Decherd, TN (as a HMI technician) for 5 years. Nissan is the only auto manufacturer to turn a profit in years. But it's not enough for them. Ever since Bill Krueger took over from Gaudette, things have gone down hill all around. They're thinking in short-term ecomonics. What they're going to find themselves with in a few years, if they keep it up, is the UAW. It would be a shame, for Nissan and the workers, but it will happen. And then we'll see Rutherford County's economy dry up.