CANTON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
Nissan will be expanding its workforce at the Canton Assembly Plant. One thousand new positions will open up, and three new lines of vehicles will begin production there by the end of the year.
The three new lines to be produced at Canton are the Xterra compact SUV, the Frontier compact truck and the Nissan Sentra.
It means the work force at canton will rise to about 4,500 because some of the new jobs have already been added to where 3,900 are now employed at Canton with a $200 million dollar payroll.
Titan full size pickups, Armada full size SUV's and Altimas will continue to be made at Canton.
Dan Bednarzyk, Vice President of Manufacturing for Nissan North America, made the Sentra announcement.
"Production of the all new 2013 Nissan Sentra, will begin in Canton, Mississippi in December of this year" said Bednarzyk.
Governor Phil Bryant announced the number of new jobs.
"Nissan is creating 1,000 new jobs for Mississippians, here at this plant" said Bryant.
Later Bryant made it clear he opposes efforts underway to unionize the Canton plant.
"I don't believe personally, that we would see this growth in the automobile industry, to include Toyota and Nissan and the many suppliers, if we had union growth in the state of Mississippi" said Bryant.
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