For the first time ever, a group of employees at the Tesla plant in New York are planning to form a union. The electric carmaker has managed to avoid formation of unions at its US plants till now. The workers have written to the management stating formation of a union will allow their voice to be heard at the workplace. Expecting a neutral stand from their employer, the employees feel they have been ignored till now and unionisation will lend them the power to negotiate fair labour.
In a press release issued on 14 February, the workers sought “a seat in the car that we helped build”.
The employees have requested Tesla to respect their right to organise a union and have urged the company to sign the Fair Election Principles.
The letter comes despite previous statements by Tesla CEO Elon Musk against unions. In 2018, Musk was ordered by the US National Labor Relations Board to delete a tweet in which he stated that employees would lose their stock options if they formed a union.
Clearly, the workers wish to see positive changes at the workplace and seek better benefits for themselves.
The Autopilot union has about 800 workers, who analyse data for the self-driving software, whereas the Buffalo plant has about 1,600 workers in total.
The news has led to a fall in Tesla’s stock price up 4.62 per cent in afternoon trading on Tuesday. The move also follows recent unionisation efforts by workers at other tech companies such as Google and Amazon. It remains to be seen how Tesla will respond to the workers’ request to form a union.
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