Tesla CEO Elon Musk has accused one of his employees of being a union agitator working on behalf of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW):
Earlier today, a Tesla employee wrote a post on Medium alleging that he and fellow Tesla employees at the company's Fremont, California manufacturing facility endure "excessive mandatory overtime," lower-than-average pay, and frequent injuries. Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to the claims in a series of private Twitter messages to Gizmodo by calling the employee, who wrote under the name Jose Moran, a pro-union agitator working on behalf of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW).
"Our understanding is that this guy was paid by the UAW to join Tesla and agitate for a union," Musk says. The Tesla chief goes on to call Moran an employee of UAW, working on behalf of the union and not Tesla. When asked about his stance on unions, Musk describes Tesla as a "union neutral" company.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Tesla has paused production at its California assembly plant to prepare for the production of the company's long-awaited Model 3 sedan.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 10 2017, @02:41PM
The fun thing is that you can be completely transparent! You CAN share your factory accident records and how much overtime you make your workers perform! And, if you're that transparent and you're showing that you take care of your workers WELL and pay them WELL and care about their SAFETY.... then a union isn't going to get enough traction to win a formation vote.
Of course, if your records show the court of public opinion that you do require lots of mandatory overtime, don't pay comparable wages for equivalent work at other auto factories, and have a higher than average LTA.... then maybe your employees should unionize?
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Friday February 10 2017, @02:59PM
Or maybe he'll just move production to a country where employees aren't so picky about missing the odd arm or leg.
compiling...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by butthurt on Friday February 10 2017, @04:08PM
Yes, I'm sure Tesla would be welcome in Tennessee. General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, Nissan and Volkswagen are already there.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 10 2017, @05:19PM
Volkswagen actually wants a union in their plant in TN.
They are big on "workers councils" which are an implementation of Deming's [wikipedia.org] continuous quality improvement management philosophy that is largely responsible for Japan's ascent from bottom-of-the-barrel to top automaker in the world. But a workers council without a full-fledged union can easily be turned into a tool for employee repression, so they are illegal in the US.
The TN governor, Haslam, is such a died-in-the-wool republican that he's been fighting VW on their attempt to unionize their own plant. [msnbc.com] So far, Haslam has won. With the help of a bizarre anti-union union. [washingtonpost.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 10 2017, @11:35PM
Rethuglicans. So heinous they won't even let companies who want their workers to unionize, do so. Idiots keep happily voting these sociopaths into office, though. Grade A, top shelf fucking maroons.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 11 2017, @01:18AM
...and some, I assume, are good people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 11 2017, @09:47PM
I hope they find a worthy replacement soon for the TN governor. I mean, other republicans are dyed-in-the-wool, but this guy actually wore his far-right garments too tightly and expired. I don't know if that means briefs, breeches, boxers, or turbans, but he still died in his wool, so I guess the message is right wing ideology=death!
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Saturday February 11 2017, @12:19AM
It's not that bizarre: One of the classic anti-unionization tactics is to create a "company union", which looks like a union but was created by the company, and management has certain controls over, as a way of keeping the workers from thinking about getting a real union.
As for the VW unionization campaign, the governor in question is very clear about why he's opposing the effort even if VW isn't: If VW unionizes, workers in other auto plants might start getting ideas.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 11 2017, @05:04AM
It's not that bizarre: One of the classic anti-unionization tactics is to create a "company union", which looks like a union but was created by the company, and management has certain controls over, as a way of keeping the workers from thinking about getting a real union.
Except that doesn't fit the mold here. The anti-union was constantly complaining about VW freezing them out and favoring the UAW.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Friday February 10 2017, @05:56PM
You CAN share your factory accident records
They are required by law to share those records with certain people.
Do I have to give my employees and their representatives access to the OSHA injury and illness records? Yes, your employees, former employees, their personal representatives, and their authorized employee representatives have the right to access accurate OSHA injury and illness records, with some limitations, as discussed below. [osha.gov]
Tesla claims it's injury rate is about half of industry standard (as of 2014). I would imagine that if they really had a terrible injury rate the union/employee would be broadcasting that fact.
(that said, they absolutely have the right to join a union if they want, even if they had a perfect safety record)