Is U.S. auto going the way of "le cost killer?"

News that car makers Nissan, GM and Renault SA may be teaming up for a "global alliance" is making waves in the auto industry, especially among workers. Despite frustrations and setbacks, GM and Renault are both companies that have accepted the basic labor-management compact forged in the 1940s, which saw unions -- organizations speaking in workers' interests -- as part of doing business.

Not so with Nissan, which made its attitude towards unions clear at its plant in Smyrna, Tennesssee, where a United Auto Workers drive was crushed five years ago, largely because of Nissan's threat of shutting down if the union came in. As the Washington Post reports:

Back in 2001, a United Auto Workers effort to organize Nissan Motor Co.'s North America flagship factory in Smyrna, Tenn., went down to crushing defeat. Nissan workers' two-to-one vote against the UAW dashed its hopes of penetrating the flourishing foreign-owned auto manufacturing sector in the United States. And it came with Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn's distinctive signature.

"It is without reservation to say that bringing a union into Smyrna could result to making Smyrna not competitive, which is not in your best interest or Nissan's," Ghosn said in a videotaped message played in the plant shortly before the election. The UAW released a transcript of the talk at the time.

Today, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger is making clear that he has "very serious concerns" about a proposed global alliance between General Motors Corp. and automakers Nissan and Renault SA -- both headed by Ghosn. [...]

"In Rick Wagoner [GM's chief executive] the UAW has a man who sees the union as a fact of life, now and in the future," said Clark University professor of labor relations Gary Chaison. "In Ghosn, they have a man who sees the union as a burden."

In his much celebrated turnaround of Nissan, Ghosn became known in Japan as the Ice Breaker for shattering long-established relationships with unions and suppliers and for laying off 21,000 people in a culture that once prized lifetime employment. Earlier, as an executive of the French company Michelin in Brazil, he was known by the nickname "le cost killer."

As the story makes clear, labor's role in the new global auto industry is increasingly precarious. But the new alliance, if it happens, could well set the tone for the future, as companies continue their world-wide "race to the bottom" for cheaper production and higher profits. May be good for auto makers in the short run, but what are the long term economic and social costs?