Tesla Inc. TSLA 0.31% CEO Elon Musk said he was open to the United Auto Workers union, which voted to organize the company’s work after long opposing the move.
“Our real challenge is that Bay Area has negative unemployment, so if we don’t treat and compensate our (great) people well, they have a lot of other offers and will just leave!” Mr Musk said via Twitter late. on Wednesday. “I would now like to invite the UAW to hold a union vote when it is convenient for them. Tesla will do nothing to stop them, “he said.
UAW has no immediate comment.
Workers at Tesla, America’s largest carmaker, are not currently in unions. Some employees at the company’s plant in Fremont, California, tried to get organized a few years ago with the help of the United Auto Workers union. Tesla has taken steps to thwart these efforts, including “questioning” employees and threatening them with losing stock options, moves that violate U.S. labor laws, the National Labor Council said. The board ordered Mr Musk to delete a tweet that discourages unions, among other remedies. The manufacturer of electric vehicles is appealing the decision on board.
The lack of a Tesla workers’ union has made the electric vehicle maker somewhat of an outcast, as the Biden administration insists on forcing Americans to accept such vehicles. President Biden rejected Tesla during an August meeting at the White House for electric vehicles with UAW employees and executives from Ford, GM and Stellantis, who account for electric vehicles as part of their total sales. In a statement on the state of the Union this week, Mr Biden mentioned Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. for their investments in electric vehicles. Tesla, which produces more of these vehicles, was not mentioned.
Mr Musk has sometimes targeted the president. “Biden is a puppet for UAW socks,” the Tesla boss tweeted in October, using emojis to label socks.
The billionaire also opposed the Biden administration’s signed legislative proposal in December, criticizing federal efforts to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles, including a bill that would increase incentives to buy battery-powered cars.
In 2021, billionaire CEO Elon Musk reached several stages in Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink. WSJ reporters Rebecca Elliott and Mika Meidenberg talk about some of his greatest moments in 2021 and what’s ahead in 2022. Illustration: Tom Grillo
The emergence of a generation of electric vehicle startups introduces new challenges to the organized workforce in the United States, which has seen its decline in automotive membership in recent decades.
“Tesla workers’ compensation is the highest in the automotive industry,” said Mr Musk. He has targeted the UAW several times on Twitter.
Tesla also faces other labor problems. A California regulatory agency is suing the company for alleged racial discrimination and harassment, saying the electric vehicle maker has turned a blind eye to years of complaints from black factory workers.
A lawsuit filed last month by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing focused on alleged workplace problems at Tesla’s main U.S. car plant in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The company criticized the Civil Rights Agency’s investigation in a blog post ahead of the lawsuit. “Tesla strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment and has a dedicated employee relations team that responds and investigates all complaints,” the company said.
Tesla also manufactures cars in Shanghai, where workers are not united in unions.
Write to William Boston at [email protected] and Rebecca Elliott at [email protected]
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