Elon Musk says Tesla would not stop any union vote in California
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News
- Tesla (TSLA -2.7%) CEO Elon Musk has invited the United Auto Workers union to hold an organizing vote at the company's factory in Fremont, California.
- "Tesla will do nothing to stop them," tweeted Musk on the prospect of a union vote. He also said the real challenge for Tesla in the Bay Area is that it has negative unemployment, noting if the company does not treat and compensate its "awesome" they will have plenty of other offers.
- The UAW has not issued a comment on any union push at Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), although spokesman Brian Rothenberg pointed out that Tesla is fighting a U.S. National Labor Relations Board ruling from last year that determined it engaged in unfair labor practices in 2018.
- The union vote development comes against the backdrop of Musk expressing frustration with President Biden highlighting the EV investments of union-heavy General Motors (GM -2.2%) and Ford (F -2.2%).
- Yesterday: Tesla secures lithium supply through Core Lithium deal
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Comments (117)
Opps, there goes those margins.
@mkjayakumar -Elon Musk was charged with violating the National Labor Law for his anti-Union tweets.So, while he may have been saying one thing, he was acting in a very different way.www.techtimes.com/...
@mkjayakumar He took to twitter last night and dared the UAW to take a vote at the Fremont plant.Big difference between supporting your workers with Unionizing and daring them to vote!
Unions protect workers from being used by greedy executives and are as American as apple pie.
@martyr1777 Thanks to Citizens United, corporations (and unions) are "people" and can spend unlimited amounts on political donations to protect their free speech. This allows corporations and unions to bribe politicians which is why we have massive levels of corruption right in the open for everyone to see. It's not a secret. The amount of money by corporations in politics dwarfs union money so by my calculations unions are insignificant in the corruption of America compared to big business.
What about Reno, Austin and Buffalo?Of course Musk doesn't mind Fremont unionizing, he's going to close it as soon as Austin is up and running. Watch him try to get out of cleaning up the pollution he left behind, too.
TSLA is going to bail California completely, as I may do also if things do not start turning around here.
@ThePatientInvestor Tesla is expanding the Fremont, CA plant, not even considering closing it. Last year production capability was expanded by 50% from 400,000 vehicles to 600,000 (100,000 S/X, 500,000 3/Y) and further expansion is planned. It remains Tesla’s only plant that produces the high end S/X models and it is the most productive auto plant in the US.
The UAW will NOT take the offer to hold an organizing vote at Tesla's factory.The workers will vote no, everyone know the outcome. Let's do it, have a vote.
I love my Model S, spectacular in every way. Elon is brilliant, a visionary who is literally changing the world for the better. It’s good that he will allow a vote that the law requires to be allowed but there’s no chance he won’t threaten to cut benefits the employees already have coming, he’s already said he will end stock options. He’s also an ass, posting Tweets that served to manipulate the markets and causing real problems with the SEC (which he totally disrespects and may well yet bite him on his fanny), chiming in on everything from child rescuers in caves to insulting the President of the US. He’s a classic double edged sword, without him he stock would be worthless, because of him the stock may be worth less too.
@Investor since ‘73 he's a visionary like Steve jobs. Also, like Steve Jobs, it's their employee's incredible talent that got them where they are.
Well, that is very bullish!Whatever next?Let’s face it the TSLA price can only go down from here.
@Outcast_Searcher “So short it”I TOTALLY agree!Wait for it!Feels a month early to me - but, hey, I you feel it…
@TommyIrish “So short it”Down another 2% pre-market this am....
Did somebody tell Elon that he could stop the labor movement?Long GM
Simply, TESLA just moves to other friendly states to avoid California, then, everyone will get what they wants.
@yanming_sv Tesla is expanding operations in CA, only moved HQ to Texass to avoid paying income tax here.
Well, of course Tesla won't stop them from holding a vote. It's illegal to do so. What would be interesting would be if UAW tried to unionize the Austin factory when it opens, which should be very shortly. I think a union campaign in Fremont is unlikely to succeed unless Austin has already gone UAW.
@Maxed Out Mama Texas is a "right- to- work" state, which makes union organizing harder there.
@Bill Cunningham Yes, and I think it is somewhat unlikely that they would go UAW. However, times are changing fast, and it is possible that the workers could go for it if the union could promise enough. If allegations made about Fremont are true, there are structural problems at Tesla that make a union a higher priority than it would be at many companies. Also, the center of mass is shifting back towards workers. I still don't think a TX crowd would do it, but the probability is a lot higher than it was two years ago.
This is a clear indication to me that Musk plans to move the bulk of its California production somewhere else.
@Bill Cunningham If I were the UAW I would target the Austin plant. The Fremont workers would rightly fear that unionizing there would shift jobs to Austin otherwise. You would think that production at Austin would be significantly cheaper than at Fremont.
@Bill Cunningham CA plant expanding , not being shut down. He moved the HQ to Texass simply to avoid paying income taxes to the state.
Why is he offering Giga Berlin workers 20% lower wages and less benefits than the other german automakers? he needs 7000 workers there, only 2600 have been hired because germans don't want to work there
