New York employees began organizing efforts to form a union at Tesla's (TSLA) Gigafactory in Buffalo, N.Y., which will prompt a battle from CEO Elon Musk who had long stated his dislike of them.
A union at a Tesla factory would be the first one for the electric vehicle manufacturer unlike the Big Three: General Motors, Ford and Stellantis who have many employees that are represented by the United Auto Workers by collective bargaining agreements.
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"We are Tesla Workers United and we are a committee dedicated to organizing a union at the Buffalo, NY Gigafactory. Find more information through our website and other platforms, here; https://linktr.ee/teslaworkersunited…. Yours in Solidarity, the Tesla Workers United committee," the workers tweeted.
The employees sent Musk, who also is CEO of Twitter, an email on Feb. 14 stating that they plan to organize.
“Unionizing will further accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy because it will give us a voice in our workplace and in the goals we set for ourselves to accomplish,” said the letter to management.
There are 800 employees at the plant who label data for Tesla’s Autopilot technology and they want improved salaries and better job security, plus a fewer production pressures, according to a Bloomberg article.
The employees said the company uses software that monitors their keystrokes to see how long it takes them to complete a task, the article said. The software can also determine how much time they spend working.
Six employees told Bloomberg that some of their co-workers have started to skip bathroom breaks.
Al Celli, a member of the union’s organizing committee, said employees do not want to be "treated like robots,” according to Bloomberg.
The Buffalo employees work on Tesla's Autopilot feature by identifying the objects that the images from the software would capture when a driver is on the road, the union said. The employees' pay begins at $19 an hour.
Employees at the Buffalo plant said they would circulate Valentine-themed leaflets at the plant today that states “Roses are red / violets are blue / forming a union starts with you,” with links to a website where workers can sign union cards," according to a Bloomberg article. The pamphlets would include links to the union website.
The employees plan on organizing with the Service Employees International Union affiliate Workers United.
Workers United has been able to unionize hundreds of Starbucks retail stores since December 2021. The first store that was unionized was one in Buffalo that is nearby the Tesla plant.
The union also seeks to organize about 1,000 manufacturing employees at the Tesla facility along with the ones working on the Autopilot project.
Tesla employees received support from other unions, including a former organizer of the AFL-CIO who shepherded the efforts for the Starbucks Workers United.
Richard Bensinger, a founder of the Organizing Institute and former organizing director of the AFL-CIO, tweeted "Buffalo really is a union town. Proud to stand with Tesla workers organizing for a voice on the job."
Employees at companies across the U.S. have increased their organizing efforts, ranging from Starbucks to other victories at Apple retail stores, Amazon and Trader Joe's.
Starbucks have contributed to a major increase in union election filings this year, including first-time union victories at Amazon, Trader Joe’s and Apple retail stores.
Employees attempted to organize a union in 2018 in Buffalo.
Musk has been staunch opponent of unions.
In 2022, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Tesla violated the rights of its employees by telling them they could not work with shirts that had pro-union insignia at the Fremont, Calif., factory.
An attempt to organize a union in 2017 also failed. Musk called one worker a "union plant," according to BuzzFeed News. He sent an email to employees promising them “a Tesla electric pod car roller coaster” and free frozen-yogurt machines.
Employees at the Nevada Gigafactory have complained about Musk firing employees without cause or intimidating them, according to a 2018 Wired article.
