Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Elon Musk has invited the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union to hold a vote to unionize at Teslaโs Fremont factory in California.
Musk tweeted the challenge after President Joe Biden, speaking in his State of the Union Address, mentioned rival automakers Ford and General Motors โ both of which have a strong union presence, a key component of Bidenโs political base โ but not Tesla.
Gene Simmons, bassist and singer from iconic rock band Kiss, noted on Twitter that the snub from pro-union Biden may have been โbecause Tesla is non-union and moved to Texas, a โright to workโ state.โ
Musk apparently agrees, and responded: โIโd like hereby to invite UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience. Tesla will do nothing to stop them.โ Muskโs argument is that because the Bay Area has such a competitive labor market, Tesla has to โtreat and compensate our (awesome) people well,โ which makes unionization unattractive.
Our real challenge is Bay Area has negative unemployment, so if we donโt treat and compensate our (awesome) people well, they have many other offers and will just leave!
Iโd like hereby to invite UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience. Tesla will do nothing to stop them.
โ Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2022
Although Musk says he welcomes a fair vote on unionization, in the past, he and other Tesla executives have been found guilty of sabotaging union efforts. In September 2019, a California judge found the companyโs management guilty of a number of illegal anti-union tactics. As Vox reported at the time:
The administrative judge, Amita Tracy, pointed to 12 company actions that violated US labor laws. That includes letting security guards harass workers who were passing out union pamphlets in the parking lot, banning employees from wearing pro-union T-shirts and buttons, repeatedly interrogating union organizers, and eventually firing one of them.
As one worker told The Guardian in 2018: โElon Musk says heโs neutral toward the union […] Theyโve been anything but neutral. Anything union or pro-union is shut down really fast.โ Musk himself has also been ordered to delete tweets that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found to constitute threats to unionizing workers. Tesla is currently appealing the order.