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Court Says Tesla and Musk's Tweet Violated Labor Laws

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday October 01 2019, @05:09AM   
from the what's-a-tweeter-to-do? dept.

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1337

Court says Tesla and Musk's tweet violated labor laws

Tesla broke labor laws by interfering with legitimate union organizing, among other things, California administrative law judge Amita Baman Tracy has ruled. The automaker apparently committed a number of violations against the National Labor Relations Act in 2017 and 2018, the court decided regarding the complaints filed by the United Auto Workers union. According to Bloomberg and Reuters, one of the violations cited in the filing is a tweet by company chief Elon Musk. In the tweet, he said that there's nothing stopping its car plant employees from organizing, but he also asked: "[W]hy pay union dues [and] give up stock options for nothing[?]"

Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2018

Musk's statement was a response to someone asking about the reports that came out last year accusing Tesla of having poor workplace safety and of having an anti-union management. The court said the tweet amounts to threatening employees that they'd be giving up company-paid stock options if they join a union.

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Original Submission

• Re:What _can_ he say? (Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 01 2019, @12:03PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 01 2019, @12:03PM (#901239)

  It's also hilarious that it's the UAW complaining. Tesla autoworkers in California support striking GM workers, denounce working conditions [wsws.org]:

  The worker noted that the starting wage for a production line worker at Tesla is roughly $16 per hour. After two years, workers move up to a meager $18.75.

  In their spring 2019 white paper, the UAW focused exclusively on EVs and the looming threat they pose to traditional autoworker jobs. They noted worryingly, “The production of new EV components could shift business and employment to non-auto companies that lack a large U.S. manufacturing base. This could undermine auto job quality by shifting work to employers with no history of manufacturing labor relations or to companies more likely to import components.”

  In other words, transitioning to EVs poses the danger of auto jobs moving to non-unionized companies like Tesla, which would lower the number of dues-paying members propping up the UAW bureaucracy.

  In the same white paper, the UAW presented their partnership with GM at the Orion Assembly Plant in a positive light, as part of their effort to pitch collaboration with the UAW in transitioning internal combustion engine (ICE) plants to EV. In reality, GM Subsystems workers at the Orion plant, which produces the Chevy Bolt, earn poverty wages of as little as $11 per hour, a product of the UAW’s collusion with GM against workers.

  GM EVs are good; Musky EVs are death machines that impoverish workers. Boeing rockets will get us to infinity and beyond, but Musky rockets are powered by the tears of cuddle puddle rape victims. Etc

  That criticism is aimed at the MSM and UAW since whether GM or Musky, workers must form independent rank-and-file committees if they want living wages. UAW does not represent the interests of workers. Specifically here, we see UAW shilling for the entrenched auto makers to stifle competition and the corporate MSM gleefully pushing their narrative.

  Parent

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