Tesla faces demand for union-rights proposal at annual meeting

A Canadian nonprofit is urging Tesla Inc. to respect its workers’ right to form unions, setting up a likely shareholder vote on a topic that has drawn the ire of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk.

Share, an advisory group that works with pension funds, family foundations and indigenous tribes, has submitted a resolution to be considered at the electric carmaker’s annual meeting urging Tesla’s eight-member board to adopt and publicly disclose a policy on labor rights.

The guidelines should prohibit management from “undermining” or interfering with efforts by employees to form or join unions, according to the proposal, which was viewed by Bloomberg. Share, which has offices in Toronto and Vancouver, doesn’t own Tesla stock.

Tesla has yet to release a proxy for the meeting, which is scheduled for Aug. 4. The company didn’t respond to requests for comment.

U.S. labor law prohibits anti-union threats or retaliation, but allows companies to campaign aggressively against unionization, and many often do.

Tesla, based in Austin, Texas, has more than 65,000 employees in the U.S. Its auto plant in Fremont, Calif., has about 15,000 workers. Though the United Auto Workers has tried to unionize the factory in years past, the effort never got close to a vote.

In May, the UAW held an organizing training session in Birmingham, Ala., where current union members met with non-union auto workers from several firms, including Tesla.

“The auto industry’s going through a number of transformations,” UAW President Ray Curry said in a Zoom discussion following the gathering. “We believe that we can maintain the standards across this country that have already been built in this industry by UAW members.”

Musk has been a vocal critic of the UAW, saying in a tweet last year that the union’s slogan should be “Fighting for their right to steal money from workers!”