Tesla, Inc. is an American
electric car manufacturer which as of January 2024[update] employs over 140,000 workers across its global operations,[1] almost none of whom are
unionized. Tesla CEO
Elon Musk has commented negatively on trade unions in relation to Tesla. Despite allegations of high injury rates, long hours, and below-industry pay, efforts to unionize the workforce have been largely unsuccessful. As of February 2024[update], there are active labor disputes with Tesla in the United States, Germany and Sweden.
In Germany, Tesla and
Tesla Automation's non-union status and lower wages compared to industry standards weakens the power of the metalworkers' union
IG Metall. Tesla concluded a pay-related
works agreement with Tesla Automation's
Works Council, while refusing to sign a
collective agreement with IG Metall. In January 2023, IG Metall called for an investigation into Tesla over allegations of long working hours and forced
non-disclosure agreements.
In 2010, Tesla acquired the formerly unionized
NUMMI plant in Fremont, California, which became the
Tesla Fremont Factory.[7][8] In the fall of 2016, Jose Moran, a Tesla Fremont Factory employee, contacted the UAW, going public with a "Fair Future at Tesla" campaign in February 2017, citing high injury rates, long hours and below industry pay as motivations.[4] In 2016, the UAW also indicated its interest in unionizing Tesla,[9] spending over US$400,000 by 2018 on organizing, campaigning and filing
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaints.[7] In October 2017, Tesla fired Richard Ortiz who was organizing[10] (alongside Moran, one of the union organizers),[4] which the NLRB later ruled to be illegal
retaliation.[10]
Our real challenge is
Bay Area has negative unemployment, so if we don't treat and compensate our (awesome) people well, they have many other offers and will just leave!
I'd like hereby to invite
UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience.
Tesla will do nothing to stop them.
In 2018, CEO Elon Musk
tweeted "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?... ".[12] Musk was ordered to delete that tweet (which implied workers would lose stocks if they formed a union), and offer Ortiz his job back with back pay.[13][14] Additionally Tesla would have to put up a notice in all of its US factories addressing the unlawful tweet.[15] The case was appealed to the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which in 2023 affirmed the NRLB's order.[16][17]
In March 2022 Musk invited the UAW union to hold a vote at their convenience.[18] UAW president
Ray Curry responded that Tesla should recognize it broke the law if it was serious about supporting organizing.[19]
Later, in June 2022, a
CNBC report found that Tesla paid public relations firm
MikeWorldWide to monitor a Tesla employee
Facebook group and to conduct research on Tesla union organizers on social media from 2017 to 2018. MikeWorldWide monitored discussions on social networks alleging unfair labor practices at Tesla and monitored discussions on a
sexual harassment lawsuit. Former and current Tesla employees told CNBC that they believed the company continued to monitor its workers on social media as of 2022.[20]
Giga New York
In December 2018, 300 workers at the
solar panel factory at
Gigafactory New York in
Buffalo, New York, announced a unionization drive with the support of USW and IBEW unions.[5] The USW filed a complaint with the NLRB in June 2019, alleging that Tesla illegally surveilled and fired 6 workers in retaliation,[21] but the case was withdrawn in August 2019.[22]
In February 2023, workers at Gigafactory New York in Buffalo involved with labeling data for
Tesla Autopilot announced a unionization effort with
Workers United.[6] (Workers United is affiliated with
Service Employees International Union. Workers United successfully led the
union drive at a Starbucks store six miles away in Buffalo.[23][24][25]) A day after the announcement, a complaint was lodged with the NLRB against Tesla for allegedly firing over 18 employees who participated in the Workers United organization.[26][27] In November, the NLRB dismissed the illegal firing complaint, but found merit in the other complaints around workplace surveillance and
discussing with workers their opinion on unions.[28]
Pursuant to allegations raised by
Workers United, the NLRB regional director in
Buffalo, New York filed a complaint with the national board in April 2024 alleging that Tesla had implemented company policies to prevent workers at its Buffalo plant from unionizing in violation of the
National Labor Relations Act of 1935.[29]
In January 2017, Tesla acquired
Grohmann Engineering (now Tesla Automation). IG Metall and the
Works Council Chair Uwe Herzig of Grohmann Engineering stated that wages under Tesla were 25‒30 percent below the Metal Industry
collective agreements. Employees expressed concern after former CEO Klaus Grohmann was ousted and business contracts with other firms were cancelled.[31]
In October 2017, management and the Works Council concluded a
works agreement that set employee salaries on par with the Metal Industry trade union collective agreements without explicitly signing them. IG Metall still pushed for formal ratification; however, it indicated there have been "good negotiation results", crediting threats of strikes and internal pressure to bolster such agreements.[32]
In early 2023, IG Metall threatened to go on
strike if Tesla did not start negotiating with them and the Grohmann Engineering Works Council.[citation needed]
Giga Berlin
According to IG Metall, in October 2021, Tesla was offering employees at the new
Giga Berlin facility in Grünheide wages 20 percent below the collective agreement standards provided at other automotive facilities in Germany.[33][34]
In November 2021, seven non-union employees of Giga Berlin initiated the process of establishing a Works Council. IG Metall expressed a concern about the future Works Council being dominated by management, as only earlier employees would be eligible to run as candidates (due to the 6-month tenure requirement) and the majority of the first 1,800 hires were middle–management personnel. In total, Tesla planned to hire 12,000 employees. If the number of employees were to double, the next Works Council election would be two years later instead of the usual four.[35][36] In March 2022, a Works Council was established. Nearly half of the votes went to the manager-friendly "Gigavoice" list.[37]
In January 2023, IG Metall called for an investigation after stating that workers had called the organization to report that they were being made to work longer hours, with less time between shifts. IG Metall also stated that workers were being forced to sign
non-disclosure agreements alongside their regular work contracts and were therefore afraid of retribution if they openly discussed their work conditions.[38][39][40]
The second Works Council election at Tesla Giga Berlin for 39 seats was initially scheduled for March 18-20, 2024; however IG Metall petitioned the
Frankfurt (Oder) Labour Court [
de] to file a
preliminary injunction against the
electoral board’s proposed timeline.[41] The originally announced electoral board timeline required candidate nominations be formally due by February 15. Given that Tesla factory production was suspended earlier for a month until February 11 due to supply chain disruptions by the
Houthi militia in the Red Sea, this left most Tesla employees with only several workdays to collect 50 candidate signatures.[41]
The court ruled shortly after that new elections can only be called from February 29, 2024 onwards in order to satisfy the two year minimum waiting period between each election.[42]
Nordic countries
In October 2023,
IF Metall, a Swedish labor union, initiated a strike against TM Sweden, a Tesla vehicle service subsidiary, over the company's refusal to sign a collective agreement.[43] Tesla employs 120 employees in Sweden.[44] The strike, initially affecting mechanics at ten workshops servicing Tesla vehicles, later expanded to include other facilities servicing various car brands. While workers continued with regular tasks, they refrained from servicing Tesla vehicles during the strike.[45] At some point, unidentified individuals suspected to be
strikebreakers arrived at Tesla service centers, prompting concerns about their impact on the labor dispute.[46] Other Swedish trade unions later joined through
sympathy (solidarity) strikes, which are legal in Sweden.[44] The
Swedish Transport Workers' Union blocked the loading and unloading of Tesla cars,[47][48] while dockworkers, electricians, and postal workers halted services to Tesla. Musk has reportedly instructed TM Sweden to sign no collective agreements.[49]
Over the next few months, union support for the Swedish campaign expanded to other Nordic countries, with unions in Denmark,[50] Norway[51] and Finland[52] joining the Tesla protest. The strike also led to the pension fund PensionDanmark selling its stake in Tesla's stock in protest.[53] In response to the escalation, Tesla posted a job opening for a Swedish government affairs specialist with “significant experience with Nordic legislative and regulatory advocacy," presumably to help with lobbying efforts.[53]
In February 2024, the
Swedish Union for Service and Communications Employees expanded the strike to include maintenance and installation of Tesla charging stations.[54] Also in February, Swedish National Mediation Office statistics showed that only a third of the 130 Tesla mechanics in Sweden had joined the strike.[54]
^McFerran, Lauren; Emanuel, William J.; Ring, John F. (March 25, 2021).
Tesla, Inc. and Michael Sanchez, Jonathan Galescu, Richard Ortiz and International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, AFL–CIO (decision and order). Decisions of the NLRB.
National Labor Relations Board. p. 9,10.
Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2022. General Counsel argues that to remedy fully CEO Musk's unlawful May 20, 2018 tweet, which coercively threatened that employees would lose their stock options if they selected the Union as their representative, the Board should order the Respondent to have Musk delete that tweet and to post a notice addressing that violation at its facilities nationwide. … (f) Direct its agent and supervisor, CEO Elon Musk, to delete his May 20, 2018 statement
^Reply Brief to Court of Appeals (appeal).
NLRB. October 26, 2021.
Archived from the original on January 6, 2022. Retrieved January 6, 2022. The Court should set aside the Board's ruling that Musk's tweet was unlawful and must be deleted.