Nissan North America, Inc. said Tuesday that it is offering a Voluntary Transition Program for hourly production and maintenance technicians at its manufacturing plants in Smyrna and Decherd, Tenn.
The program provides a $45,000 lump sum payment, plus $500 for each year of service. It is only available to those employees in Tennessee.
Nissan said productivity at the plants remains high and a consumer demand shift from labor-intensive trucks and SUVs to passenger cars led to the employment reduction plan.
Employees at the two plants will have until March 13 to decide to take the package or not. If they take the program, they have until June 30 to resign or retire.
“We will provide our hourly employees with as much information as they need to make an informed decision and we expect around 300 will accept the program,” said Dan Gaudette, senior vice president of North American Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management.
The Smyrna vehicle assembly plant has 5,200 hourly employees and the Decherd powertrain assembly plant has 1,000 hourly employees.
