Tesla factory worker calls for a union: “We need to stand up for ourselves”

American workers should realize that they are competing with Chinese workers who will give life and limb to work in the environment that Tesla is providing them. They should either compete or let the Chinese do the work for 1/10th of the cost instead of whining about not getting diet soda in vending machines.

Forget about competing with China. We can raise the standard of living here for our workers. Union bosses have a seat at the board room table in Germany, why can't we do that here? Unionization (democracy in the workplace) is not just a right, it's an essential need. And it stems from the capitalistic fallacy: "You (the worker/producer) do not control the wages." And it shows in the devastatingly large surplus value that's caused crash after crash and recession after depression and the crippling wealth gap between rich and poor.

That said, I would certainly like to see them improve in this area. I'm a big fan of Tesla, but they are not without their flaws, and working conditions appear to be one of them. They should do better. Not because it somehow conflicts with their mission, but just because it's the right thing to do.

If Tesla's management really believes they are changing the world and having a non-negligible impact, then they might easily justify to themselves that while they aren't the most benevolent of employers, they make up for it with what they do. The problem is that a) people may not even agree their goal is beneficial, or b) accepting the prior as true may not agree the degree to which their actions are beneficial in the end, or c) accepting both the prior as true may not care because those actions may disproportionately affect the person in question.

In any case, I don't think it's as simple as you make it out to be.

Shit must be real bad over there if they are attempting to unionize, if you notice the only places that still have a union in the US in spite of union busting are where the employer has made it an absolute living nightmare to work, hence the union to back the workers up.

It will be interesting to see if any tech news sites pick up on this story at all. It seems like anything to do with labour/unions gets ignored.

Edit: Now page 6: http://imgur.com/3CAfOnT. (Look at the points/times of the stories above and below it...)

definitely at the expense of their jobs. capital/owners get to keep all the earnings, the workers get nothing. this is why it's important for workers to be part of co-operatives or to have profit-sharing or more equity or shares.

Not to mention, many car companies _mainly_ build their luxury and more expensive models in the US. Perhaps the calculus is Tesla has to bank on it's next to get motivated workers and push them to make their production goals.

I mean, if I didn't have a fun programming career I might be tempted to help them build cars since working with my hands sounds fun, and so does being a part of Tesla.

That being said, does it make it fair? Is it exploitation if the claims are true? Course it isn't fair. I think the best case is Tesla makes a boat load of money selling model 3's and is able to invest in paying it's workforce well, which feels like a pretty crumby thing to hope for since I care a lot about workers rights :/

His main complain is mandatory overtime, bad production flow, dangerous working conditions, frequent injuries, and management refuses to listen to feedback. In short, it's a dangerous irresponsible sweatshop from the 19th century.

Will moving the plant to Tennessee or Nevada help because you believe there are no federal labor regulations or safety considerations in those states?

"Last month, five members of the Assembly wrote a letter to Tesla CEO Elon Musk referring to the confidentiality pledge and expressing concerns that the breadth of the agreement “impermissibly violates protected employee activity under state and federal law, including the right to communicate to each other and the public about wages, working conditions and other issues.” The members asked Tesla to revise the policy."

That's not necessarily the case. Managers often get bonuses for achieving goals that are only possible by treating workers poorly.

Until there is negative reinforcement for that (union walkout), there's not much motivation to change things.

I don't think you really believe that - if you truly internalized this, then isn't the conclusion that you should go find any way possible to contribute to them as well?

Man, the hype about that company truly has reached unreal proportions right now.

Isn't this essentially the same line used by startups to lowball recent grads? It seems to me this board would know better.

But this comment. The one I'm responding to. It's the first time I've seen someone talk about Tesla and thought "WTF? This person can't be serious."

It's okay to think it's "important". I think Tesla is pretty darn neat. Asking others to quietly sacrifice their health for that thing? While being uninvolved yourself? That, I can't wrap my head around.

Union organization is very calculated. It has to be because union opposition is also very calculated, especially when it's done lawfully. It's calculated because there are very specific protocols that have to be followed that may or may not be enforced by laws with sharp teeth (depending on the state). This makes it very sensitive. Also, public relations is a significant part of the playing field. The company and the union are trying to use it to both bolster and gauge support.

With all that said, I wish the best for both parties in coming to an agreement where workers can safely and efficiently build cars that will eventually replace most gas powered cars with all its moving parts with EV cars with minimal moving parts.

How so? What is it that they're doing that is so special, beyond what Ford, GM, Toyota, Fiat, VW Group and a multitude of others are doing? They're building electric cars. All of them. Why do people think Tesla deserves "special snowflake" status?

I don't see why this wouldn't be an actual Tesla employee (I'm open to theories), and assuming it is because this is the sort of thing an employee would do while consulting with the UAW.

I agree that people should have the right to band together in an organized way to increase negotiating power. What I have a problem with is when joining the union and paying dues becomes expected or even mandatory.

When I was in college, I worked a summer for a high-end grocery store as a part-time bagger. Nearly every day the assistant manager (the local union representative) would accost me to join the union and to pay union dues. As a part-time and temporary employee this made absolutely no sense for my situation and would only serve to modestly increase the bargaining power and coffers of the union.

In other situations paying dues to the union becomes mandatory under the legal concept of "fair share fees" where non-union members are required to pay into the bargaining costs of the union.

> If a majority of the public employees at a given site vote to be represented by a union, that union becomes the exclusive bargaining agent for the workers. In California, some 325,000 teachers in more than 1,000 school districts are represented by the California Teachers Association and, to a lesser extent, the California Federation of Teachers.

> Of those, 9 percent have not joined the union, but under California law, any union contract must cover them too, and so they are required to pay an amount that covers the costs of negotiating the contract and administering it. The idea is that they reap the bread-and-butter benefits covered by the contract — wages, leave policies, grievance procedures, etc. — so they should bear some of the cost of negotiating that contract.

http://www.npr.org/2016/01/11/462607980/scotuspublicunions