While reporting Tesla's fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, CEO Elon Musk persistently denied any possibility of Unionization of its California factory. He admitted that the United Automobile Workers (UAW) is trying hard unionizing Tesla, but he believes it won't do the workers any good.
Tesla Labor Issues
Jose Moran, who claims to have worked in Tesla's Fermont Plant for a span of four years said that many of the employees are planning to unionize, Oregon Live reported. He said that production workers in Tesla only earn $17 to $21 per hour, while the average automobile production employee in the less expensive regions in the US earns $25.58 per hour.
He said that more than 5,000 production workers in Tesla work over 40 hours every week with too much imposed overtime. The manual labor they do in Tesla is carried out at great risk, he said. Recently, six of his work team of eight were given medical leave after incurring work related injuries.
What Elon Musk Has to Say About it
Musk found out that Tesla's accident risk is less than half of the automotive industry average, debunking the allegations by Moran. He even said that the employees of Tesla are the highest paid workers in the automotive industry if equity compensations, Tech Crunch reported. He said that having the UAW in the company would only bring disadvantages, and, based on his estimation, Tesla production workers are least likely to unionize.
A Tesla spokesperson said that the management and the employees have a close partnership, which means there is no need for union representation. He said that job satisfaction and safety is very important to Tesla and that the company engages directly with its workers. In another note, the company's fourth quarter revenue is $2.3 billion, but this number is a $219 million loss for the company.
