© Reuters.
Par Michael Elkins
Tesla (NASDAQ:) employees in upstate New York announced in a letter to management early Tuesday that the group was considering launching a campaign to form a union. The union, if formed, would be a first for Tesla, which so far has managed to avoid unionization at its US facilities, unlike other major automakers.
“We believe that organizing will give us a voice in our workplace that we believe has been ignored until now,” the workers said in a press release on Tuesday. “We only ask for a seat in the car we helped build.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has spoken out against unions before, and in 2018 the US National Labor Relations Board ordered him to delete a tweet saying employees would lose their stock options if they formed a syndicate.
The letter quotes employees asking Tesla to respect their right to organize a union and calls on the world’s most valuable automaker to sign the Fair Election Principles.
“As workers, we deserve to be able to negotiate fair working conditions with our employers, and there are many changes I would like to see at Tesla for the benefit of workers,” said Tesla employee Alexis Hy. , in a press release.
