Posts tagged TESLA
Tesla beats US claim that it fired factory workers amid union campaign
December 1, 2023 //
UAW launches campaign to unionize Toyota, Tesla and other automakers
November 30, 2023 // United Auto Workers union said its next target is to unionize factory workers at Lucid, Rivian, Tesla and 10 foreign automakers, a move that comes after it garnered new employment contracts from Detroit's Big Three automakers. BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Mazda, Mercedes, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo are based overseas but all have manufacturing operations in the U.S. Because these companies have brought in billions of dollars in profit over the past decade, their hourly factory workers deserve to make more money, UAW President Shawn Fain said in a video Wednesday.
Elon Musk’s Tesla is facing more union problems
November 21, 2023 // Swedish dockworkers joined the strike Nov. 7. As of Friday, the dockworker strike expanded to all ports in the country, preventing the off-loading of new Teslas in Sweden. Swedish postal workers have stopped delivering mail to Tesla's offices, and cleaners have refused to clean the company's buildings.
Ford workers join those at GM in approving contract settlement that ended UAW strikes
November 20, 2023 // The United Auto Workers union overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with Ford, a pact that, along with similar deals with General Motors and Stellantis, will raise pay across the industry, force automakers to absorb higher costs and help reshape the auto business as it shifts away from gasoline-fueled vehicles. Workers at Ford voted 69.3% in favor of the pact, which passed with nearly a 15,000-vote margin in balloting that ended early Saturday. Earlier this week, GM workers narrowly approved a similar contract. At Stellantis, 68.7% of workers favored ratification, an insurmountable lead with votes at only two small facilities left to be counted.
Tesla allowed to ban factory workers from wearing union T-shirts: court
November 17, 2023 // On Tuesday, the 5th Circuit said that it was wrong for the NLRB to require Tesla to prove that special circumstances justified its policy. The company still allowed workers “to affix any number or size of union stickers to their team wear,” so it was not unlawfully interfering with union organizing, the court said.
Biden backs UAW aim to unionize Tesla, Toyota
November 14, 2023 //
Some Tesla workers say they’d never join a union, even as Ford and GM workers get big raises
November 7, 2023 // The United Auto Workers might have set its sights on Tesla, but some workers at the EV company told Insider they'd be hard-pressed to join a union. After reaching tentative agreements with Detroit automakers, the union's president, Shawn Fain, said last week that the UAW aims to expand its reach. And what better target than the most valuable car company in the world?
How the UAW’s drive to ‘end tiers’ will change GM
November 5, 2023 // GM, Ford and Stellantis, which faced a coordinated UAW strike, have said tiers of workers allows them to keep costs down and remain competitive with non-union factories operated by Tesla and foreign makers' U.S. plants, and the Detroit Three have warned that the strike-ending deals present major financial challenges. Eliminating tiers of lower-paid UAW workers at the Detroit Three was a top priority for Fain and UAW bargainers. Fain and UAW members would often wear red t-shirts printed with the slogan "End Tiers" at rallies and on picket lines.
‘Battle royale’: Tesla and anti-union Musk make enticing targets for UAW’s next push
November 5, 2023 // Some current UAW members are already fired up to take on Tesla. “Go out west to California? Absolutely, I would go,” said John Jake Kincaid, a Stellantis employee in Michigan. “Show them our strength.” Still, fighting for a contract at companies with established relationships with union workers is a far different effort than starting from scratch. Several workers who were key to Tesla’s earlier union effort are no longer at the company. The Fremont plant’s history with the UAW predates the electric vehicle maker. For about 25 years, Toyota and GM operated the facility together in an unusual joint venture. It was a union shop. In 2009, GM pulled out of the partnership as part of its bankruptcy proceedings and in 2010 Toyota shut the operation down, throwing 4,700 people out of work. A month later, Tesla bought the sprawling 5.3 million square foot factory; the union didn’t come with the purchase.
Unionization booms in 2023, but is far from 1950s peak
November 2, 2023 // "A very limited number of workers in California are unionized. Currently, it's about 16 to 17 percent," Bernick said, adding that the majority of unionized workers are in the public sector. A lack of jobseekers, a strong economy and the state mandating higher pay for many classes of workers, have helped wage gains in recent years, Bernick said. So, 2023 could turn out to be something less than a grand slam. "I've seen a number of events that have been pointed to as seminal changes in unionization in California, and they've actually had very limited impact," Bernick said. But the public, by and large, supports the organizing efforts.