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Riding on the momentum after the win with the big three automakers, the United Auto Workers union is launching a huge new quest to unionize workers at other carmakers like Tesla, but faces a staunch anti-union boss Elon Musk in its quest.
The same day the union unveiled its campaign, Elon Musk was on the stage at DealBook summit, denouncing unions, when asked about the car industry today.
“I think the unions naturally are trying to create a negativity in the company and create lords and peasants sort of situation,” Musk told the New York Times journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin. Adding there’s no such dynamic at Tesla, where everyone eats at the same table and parks in the same parking lot. “If Tesla gets unionized, it will be because we deserve it and we failed in some way.”
The United Auto Workers announced on Wednesday that it is beginning a sweeping unionizing campaign targeting around 150,000 employees at the nonunion 13 automakers in the U.S., including the EV makers Tesla and Rivian as well as other foreign carmakers like Toyota, BMW, Voklswagen among others.
Unionizing employees at Tesla would be a huge win for the labor movement as the car industry increasingly moves toward producing electric vehicles. But keeping labor costs down helps Tesla sell its cars at competitive prices.
Tesla, is one of the largest EV manufacturers in the world and the leading EV maker in the United States, Tesla, employing tens of thousands of workers across the U.S. in California, Texas, Nevada and New York. Although Musk claimed in the interview that Tesla appreciates its workers, giving them stock options and opportunities of growth within the company, there have been concerns about discriminatory labor practices and insufficient remuneration.
”Even though it is not the largest employer among those 13 automakers, there’s no question that it is the leading case for the UAW’s organizing effort,” said Seth D. Harris, President Biden’s former top labor advisor and now a senior fellow at the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern university. “Tesla would be a major accomplishment for the UAW, not merely within the United States, but globally, because Tesla is a global brand and a major player in the global electric vehicle market,” he added.
UAW’s announcement comes after the simultaneous strikes this fall at Ford Motor, General Motors and Stellantis and the historic win that got the employees of the automakers over 30% pay increase by 2028, better retirement plans and cost-of-living adjustments among other benefits.
The agreements had ripple effects among the other nonunion carmakers. Toyota, Nissan and Honda Motor have announced they would increase pay for their own US workers, a strategy seen as keeping the employers from unionizing. Though UAW said they’ve seen massive reachout from workers, especially from the south.
UAW has an organizing committee at Tesla’s plant in Fremont, California, discussing the advantages of collective bargaining with the employees and is committed to spend as much resources as necessary, according to Bloomberg. But Tesla is a challenging opponent. Elon Musk, is one of the richest people in the world and is not afraid of controversies.
“We make the best cars,” Musk said at the DealBook summit when the interviewer asked about distrust and controversy he has attracted lately. “Whether you hate me, like me or are indifferent, do you want the best car or not the best car?”
Workers at Tesla have tried to start unionizing campaigns in the past but the attempts were squashed even in the beginning. In 2017 Musk went after an employee and said his attempt was a morally outrageous attack.
Last February, Tesla fired dozens of workers at its Buffalo, New York, plant after employees announced a unionization campaign with Workers United. The union claimed the layoffs were in retaliation for the union activity and filed for US National Labor Relations Board investigation into it.
Harris says, Musk, with his rabid anti-union stance and resources is going to be difficult to face but at the same time UAW has tremendous momentum, a new level of intensity and a very effective case to make to the employees at Tesla and all the other automakers.
“With those two sides facing off against one another, you can see the organizing effort at Tesla becoming what they would call in professional wrestling a cage match, a free for all cage match,” Harris said. “It’s going to be a battle to the end.”