Workers for Tesla Inc. in New York state said on Tuesday that they are starting an unionising campaign, presenting Chief Executive Elon Musk with his most recent labour issue. The workers at the electric vehicle manufacturer revealed their intention to unionise with Workers United Upstate New York in a letter to the company’s management. If the union were to be created, it would be a first for Tesla, which has so far avoided unionisation at its American factories, and significant manufacturers.
In the past, Musk has been outspoken about his hostility to unions. The U.S. National Labor Relations Board reprimanded him for a 2018 tweet claiming that workers would lose their stock options if they organised a union.
In a news statement on Tuesday, the workers stated, “We believe unionising will give us a voice in our workplace that we feel has been ignored to this point,” they say.
Requests from Tesla employees for the company to uphold their freedom to form a union
The letter, initially made public by Bloomberg News earlier in the day, included requests from Tesla employees for the company to uphold their freedom to form a union and urged the Fair Election Principles to be signed by the most valuable automaker in the world. Employees claimed that because creating a union is a fundamental civil right, Tesla would not be permitted to intimidate or retaliate against workers for doing so. Tesla workers at the Buffalo-based Gigafactory New York claim they are “tired of being treated like robots” and have alerted CEO Elon Musk of their desire to unionise.
The manufacturer has faced unionisation attempts before, but they have often been concentrated at the Tesla vehicle facilities, notably the Fremont Factory in California, which produces cars for the US market. The strong Union of Auto Workers (UAW) has attempted to unionise what is now the most productive automobile plant in the US multiple times in the past without success.
The firm tracks keystrokes and time spent on each activity
Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, has vigorously opposed those initiatives. The National Labor Relations Board deemed him over the line and ordered Musk to remove a tweet in which he implied that Tesla workers might lose their stock options if they organised.
However, unionisation attempts at Tesla facilities have yet to make much progress throughout the years. The tracking of employees at work is one of the critical issues. They assert that Tesla tracks keystrokes and time spent on each activity, causing employees to forgo breaks like using the restroom so as not to impair their productivity. The Service Staff International Union affiliate Workers United, which is well-known for having unionised workers at hundreds of Starbucks locations, assists with the organisation of the Tesla employees.
