Workers from Tesla's New York Gigafactory attempt to unionize

14 February 2023

Workers from Tesla's New York state Gigafactory have made it clear they'll attempt to form a union. The employees, which annotate data for Tesla's autopilot technology, are seeking better pay and job security.

The workers have informed Elon Musk's team officially and will attempt to join the Workers United Upstate New York - an American and Canadian labor union that represents more than 86,000 workers in a number of fields.

Tesla has so far managed to stop the forming of unions in its US factories. CEO Elon Musk has gone as far as to attract the ire of the US Labor Relations Board when it forced him to delete a tweet, in which he threatened that unionized employees would lose their stock options.

The workers who are now attempting to form a union in Tesla's plant in Buffalo, New York, say that production pressures at the factory have been harmful to their health. They say Tesla is tracking their performance at work by monitoring keystrokes and times per task, which leads some to forgo a bathroom break so as to not affect their performance. The workers reportedly have a $19-an-hour starting pay.

A union would be able to represent the workers' collective interest in better pay and work conditions and bargain for them with Tesla. Most carmakers in the US have had to accept their employees forming unions, unlike Tesla.

Source (paywalled)