MINOR — Musgrove emerges to defend recruitment of Nissan
Ronnie Musgrove came out of hiding and on June 24 fired off an op-ed piece defending his 2001-02 deal to bring the sprawling Nissan plant to Canton. Though he took me down a peg or two for my June 13 column discussing attempted unionization of the plan, it was good to see the former Democratic governor reappear on the public scene.
The point of my column had been to inform people (few of whom know) that a 1960 amendment in our constitution known as “right to work” erects a high barrier against unionizing any industrial plant, lowering chances of winning a union election.
While Musgrove made no reference to RTW or unions in how he brought Nissan to Mississippi in 2001-02, he did disclose one important piece of information: As of 2011, Nissan had paid back to the state the $4 million or more state taxpayers had invested initially in plant and other pre-construction incentives to bring the Japanese automaker here.
BILL MINOR
7/5/12
Magnolia Tribune
