Tesla workers launch campaign to unionize

NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla workers at a factory in New York are launching a campaign to organize a union in New York.

In a letter to management Tuesday, the Tesla Workers United organizing committee said that the employees are seeking a voice on the job at the plant in Buffalo and want to “build an even more collaborative environment that will strengthen the company.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken a hard line against organized labour, despite inviting the United Auto Workers to hold an organizing vote at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California. In 2021 Tesla was ordered by the National Labor Relations Board to make Musk delete a 2018 tweet in which it said that he unlawfully threatened employees with loss of stock options if they chose to be represented by the UAW.

In August 2022 the National Labor Relations Board reversed a Trump-era decision by finding that Tesla can’t stop factory employees from wearing clothing with union logos while on the job.

Tesla labour organizers wrote Tuesday they are seeking a union as innovative as the electric car company.

“We believe that by having a union at Tesla, we will further the mission of sustainability and foster a progressive environment for us all,” the letter said.

It went on to say, in a story first reported by Bloomberg, that the union would further Tesla’s principles and objectives.

If successful, it would be the first union at the electric vehicle maker.

The Tesla plant, which makes solar panels, is near a Starbucks location where workers voted to unionize last year.