Elon Musk has another problem to deal with in addition to his Twitter engagement problem — Tesla employees in New York have announced that they would organize a union to organize better working conditions.
Workers wrote a letter to the management expressing their intention. These efforts have been successful. Musk, for his part, has stated in 2018 that he would not oppose unions. They could do so tmrw if they wanted. Why would you pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing?
Tesla was told by the National Labor Relations Board that Musk must remove the tweet, which is still there. CNBC has shared an excerpt from the letter from the employees.
"We want Tesla to be the successful business it is capable of becoming." Tesla's principles and objectives will be furthered by our union, among other things, by serving as the organization's conscience and by maintaining and strengthening our trust and respect.
Employees in Buffalo want a few things: better pay, better job security, more autonomy in making decisions, and less supervision and pressure about production. Bloomberg reported that employees in Buffalo claimed Tesla monitors keystrokes on their computers, and that employees avoid bathroom breaks because of it.
The workers have joined forces with the Workers United labor union, a group that has assisted numerous other firms in unionizing. Unionizing, they said, would "further accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy, because it will give us a voice in our workplace and in the goals we aim to achieve."
The workers have also asked Tesla to adopt the Fair Election Principles, a move meant to avoid prosecution from Tesla. They're also handing out Valentine's Day-themed pamphlets with a website to sign union cards, according to Bloomberg.
"I want a voice with my company, but we don't really have one," one individual said. "People are sick of being treated like robots," according to a member of the union's organizing committee.
Tesla was making it difficult to organize by intimidating employees, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Security guards at the company demanded workers who were attempting to organize to show IDs and then leave the workplace.
Tesla also instituted a policy that prohibited employees from talking about their work with the media or on social media. They were also prohibited from forwarding emails from work to personal accounts. The charge at the time was dubbed "baseless."
This one will be kept up to date.