Tesla denies claims of union-blocking

DETROIT — Tesla Inc. is denying claims that it threatened to fire pro-union workers at its Fremont, Calif., factory and tried to prevent them from passing out union literature.

The National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Tesla, citing multiple incidents in which Tesla security guards allegedly refused to let off-duty employees hand out leaflets about the United Auto Workers union near the company’s factory. Tesla workers further allege they were prohibited from discussing safety concerns and were interrogated about organizing efforts by human resources employees, according to the complaint. Workers also claim a supervisor threatened to fire employees who passed out material not approved by Tesla.

Tesla denied all of the allegations in a response filed late last week, which The Associated Press obtained Thursday through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Tesla also said the complaint was insufficient because it didn’t name the security guards who allegedly stopped the leafletting. Tesla said it can’t verify if the allegations are true unless those guards are identified.

Under federal law, companies can’t prevent employees from union solicitation on non-work time and in nonwork spaces. Also, they can’t prohibit employees from discussing unions during work time if they permit employees to talk about other subjects.

The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a hearing on the issue for Nov. 14.

The UAW, which is backing the unionization effort and filed some of the complaints to the NLRB, has long hoped to organize Tesla’s 10,000 factory workers. The union has been filing labour complaints against Tesla since 2011, shortly after the company bought the Fremont factory.

The effort to unionize Tesla’s workers could gain even more of the UAW’s attention and resources after the union failed to organize a Nissan Motor Co. plant in Canton, Miss., last month.

Supporters of the union have pointed to data showing that Tesla’s safety record was worse than the industry average. Worksafe, a labour advocacy group, said earlier this year that Tesla’s rate of recordable injuries was 8.8 per 100 workers in 2015, compared to 6.7 injuries per 100 workers for the industry as a whole. Tesla says it has shown significant improvement since then, with an injury rate of 4.6 per 100 workers in the first quarter.