Nissan/Renault unions to meet

IMF News, 4 November 2000

FRANCE/JAPAN: As a follow-up to the July 1999 meeting organised by the International Metalworkers' Federation for its affiliates in Nissan and Renault, the Renault Works Council is setting up talks with the Nissan union at the end of November in Boulogne Billancourt, near Paris.

Cooperation between the unions of both companies was initiated by the IMF after French carmaker Renault acquired a 36.8 per cent stake in the financially-troubled Nissan in early 1999 and a radical corporate restructuring plan was announced.

The November trade union meeting will be taking place against the backdrop of what seems to be the beginning of a recovery for the No. 2 Japanese carmaker. Nissan Motor Company has just reported good results for the first six months of the financial year, ending September 30, 2000.

Consolidated net profit for the company during this period was 170.2 billion yen (US$1.57 billion), compared to losses of 323.5 billion yen for this period a year ago.

Although Nissan car sales declined by 9.4 per cent in Japan for the first half of the business year, the company states that business is stabilising there, competitiveness is on the upswing and a number of new products will be introduced by the end of 2002. Also, Nissan sales in the United States reached record levels, at 9.2 million cars.