Seventy-five tool and die technicians, among thousands of employees at the Nissan Smyrna Assembly Plant in Tennessee, voted Thursday not to unionize. The employees rejected, in a 62-9 vote, a campaign by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), according to a statement by the National Labor Relations Board. Last month, the IAM rejected Nissan's claim that any election should also involve thousands of production-line workers because they share working conditions with the technicians. The Smyrna plant has more than 7,000 employees.

There's no downplaying another dramatic loss for unionization efforts at Nissan. In 1989 and 2001, workers at the Smyrna plant also voted overwhelmingly against joining the UAW. More recently, August 4, 2017, a Nissan plant in Canton, Miss., voted 2,224-1,307 against unionization. After four attempts, the UAW has yet to win a plant-wide vote at a foreign-owned auto plant in the South. 

The Smyrna plant began production in 1983 and brought well-paid jobs to an area with high unemployment and low wages. Nissan assembly plant employees have some of the highest blue-collar wages across the South, though they still make less than workers at the Big Three automakers. "Nissan respects this decision, and we remain focused on working with employees to drive our future forward together," the company said.