Nissan Workers Lament Move

The L.A.Times reports:

Shortly after Nissan Motor Co. announced Thursday that it would relocate its North American headquarters from Gardena to Tennessee, the challenges facing the Japanese automaker became evident.

Several employees said that they had no intention of moving and that few of their co-workers would leave either.


"I'm not going to Tennessee," one woman said.

A few hours after the 9 a.m. announcement, a dozen workers from Nissan's marketing department gathered at the nearby Paradise Restaurant, some sipping Bloody Marys and nibbling from plates of fresh fruit.

"I really think what we're doing here is sort of mourning the brand," one said. "We hope that everything we've worked for here will not be lost."

Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said the Japanese automaker, which set up shop in Southern California in 1958, would spend more than $70 million to build a corporate headquarters complex in Franklin, about 15 miles southwest of Nashville.

Ghosn said the widely anticipated decision was prompted chiefly by cheaper real estate and lower business taxes.

"The costs of doing business in Southern California are much higher than the costs of doing business in Tennessee," he said.

The trend isn't job creation in California.When costs are 44% cheaper in Tennessee how can California compete?