Elon Musk challenges UAW union to hold vote at California Tesla plant
Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, says he is inviting the United Auto Workers labor union (UAW) to hold a vote at the electric carmaker’s California factory.
The announcement comes three months after the billionaire Musk criticized the Biden administration and Democrats for a proposal to give union-made, US-built electric vehicles an additional $4,500 tax incentive.
Tesla and foreign automakers do not have unions at their US factories.
Organizing a Tesla plant would represent a major victory for the UAW, which has largely failed to win the backing of workers at foreign-owned automakers’ or electric vehicle startups’ assembly plants, many of which are in the US south. Tesla also has a plant in Austin, Texas.
In his tweet on Thursday, Musk said the real challenge was the negative unemployment in Bay Area, where the factory is located, and not compensating people well would make them leave as they have many offers.
“I’d like hereby to invite UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience. Tesla will do nothing to stop them,” he said.
UAW did not have an immediate comment about Musk’s tweet, but analysts said his actions over the past year do not match the rhetoric.
Joe Biden has often praised the electric-vehicle (EV) efforts made by General Motors and Ford, even though they sell fewer EVs than Tesla.
Last month, Biden, whom Musk earlier this year compared to a “damp sock puppet”, acknowledged Tesla’s leadership role in making EVs after Musk repeatedly complained about being ignored. Last autumn, Musk said Biden’s EV policy appeared to be controlled by labor unions.
Musk has also faced the ire of the National Labor Relations Board, which last year ruled the company violated US labor law and ordered Tesla to direct him to delete a
Read more on theguardian.com
