Tesla CEO Elon Musk mocks UAW, slams union over corruption

[Newton]

from my perspective, as someone who has recently worked in blue color jobs such as welding and manufacturing...
my friends who are in unions make a wage that actually lets them live and enjoy life, while non union workers make barely enough to survive....
such as tesla workers

i guess i should edit this to say factory workers in Fremont specifically.

 

[Cebliminal]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk mocks UAW, slams union over corruption
By
Will Feuer
November 10, 2021 7:07pm
Updated

Elon Musk recently called out the Biden administration for holding an electric vehicle event at the White House, in which Tesla was not invited.dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images

Tesla CEO Elon Musk — the world’s wealthiest man — mocked the United Auto Workers union, one of the largest labor groups in the country, over corruption allegations that have plagued the organization for years.

“New UAW slogan: ‘Fighting for their right to steal money from workers!'” Musk tweeted Wednesday.

Musk’s remark came in response to an article detailing charges brought earlier Wednesday by federal prosecutors against Tim Edmunds, a former UAW official in Michigan, who allegedly embezzled millions of dollars and spent it on “gambling, guns and cars.”

Edmunds is the 16th person charged in the sprawling corruption scandal that’s plagued the UAW in recent years.

Brian Rothenberg, a union spokesman, pushed back on Musk’s characterization of the UAW, saying that it was the union’s own internal auditors who rooted out the allegations against Edmunds.

Tesla’s workforce is not unionized, with Musk personally opposing unionization efforts in the past.dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images

“The UAW reforms are what found the issue,” he said, adding that the union announced the discovery of the alleged embezzling last month.

Musk has a contentious past with unions.

Tesla’s workforce isn’t unionized and in 2017, the UAW filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of hundreds of Tesla factory workers who were fired from the assembly plant, alleging that the workers were unfairly targeted for being pro-union.

Earlier this year, the NLRB ruled that Tesla violated labor laws when it fired one union activist and again when Musk tweeted: “Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?”

The federal agency ordered Musk to delete the tweet.

There are more than 600 local unions in the UAW, according to the UAW website.SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Musk has said he’s not stopping Tesla workers from unionizing, but does dislike unions.dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images

More recently, Musk has found himself at odds with the pro-union Biden administration. In September, he railed against President Joe Biden, accusing him of bias against Tesla and saying that the current administration appears to be “controlled by unions.”

Musk pointed specifically to an electric vehicle event hosted at the White House in August, to which Tesla — which sells more electric cars in the US than any other auto maker — wasn’t invited.


“Biden held this EV summit — didn’t invite Tesla. Invited GM, Ford, Chrysler, and UAW [United Auto Workers Union]. An EV summit at the White House. Didn’t mention Tesla once, and praised GM and Ford for leading the EV revolution,” Musk said at the time.

https://nypost.com/2021/11/10/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-mocks-uaw-slams-union-over-corruption/



UAW President Curry under investigation for possible ethical misconduct
Breana NobleRobert Snell
The Detroit News

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/b...gated-possible-ethical-misconduct/6389278001/


Feds: UAW local treasurer used union money to pay for child support, gambling
Timothy Edmunds faces list of charges including embezzlement, money laundering

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news...nion-money-to-pay-for-child-support-gambling/

Elon better watch out messing with unions he could end up like Hoffa

 

[Crissa]

Whether it be Biden or Trump, they are just a part of the political machine with the same old teleprompter to read to America.

Dude. Political. And factually incorrect.

One party voted against EVs and me being able to marry my spouse (and cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes).
The other party got me my passport, allowed my spouse and I to marry, and has put solar and EVs on the forefront multiple administrations.

Not the same.

-Crissa

 

[anionic1]

Tesla could use a union to outsource HR concerns, offload health insurance and similar liabilities, and to help grease the wheels of moving employees around from factory line to line.

The facts exist, and the knee-jerk anti-union screeds that show up around here is not surprising, if ignorant.

I could easily complain about existing unions - people my age were shut out by unions with tiered contracts and protectionist practices. But unions are no more corrupt than any other company or collection of humans. These things I have a problem with could easily be solved with better regulation of what contract stipulations are fair and which shouldn't be allowed. And unions could represent more workers in a workplace instead of being fragmented and leaving vast swaths unprotected - see also adjunct teaching or office workers for examples.

Just saying 'union bad' does the dirty work of the very people who profit from the race to the bottom in safety and sharing the profits. That Tesla does so well while not tipping the scale should be a big red flag that it's an outlier and not the norm. And their settlements and court cases show that they could run leaner and better if they had someone advocating to remove the bad apples in management who abuse their authority and insulate themselves from responsibility when things do go wrong.

-Crissa

You know what was really eye opening to me is that campaign contributions are written such that the maximum amounts are adjusted for inflation and have been for a long time. But peoples pay isn’t adjusted for inflation and has been stuck at crazy low rates for a very long time. Pay should be set so that minimum everyone makes enough to afford a 1 bedroom apartment in your county and guess what that means it gets adjusted for inflation. In my opinion unions help tip the scale enough so the lower incomes aren’t completely stranded. We shouldn’t need unions if people treated people fairly.

Really for how big and successful Tesla has become I feel like they must be doing a lot right an they push ahead with incredible speed which I think is largely to be credited. I think when companies are just running on status quo people get bored and start doing stupid stuff. One day, when the factories are built, the gears broken in and finely tuned by ingenuity and sweat, Tesla will probably give in and go union for workers.

 

[Crissa]

Tesla doesn't really - and shouldn't - have a say in whether the workers unionize. Taking care of their workers and whistleblowers should be something they welcome, it's the only way to get better.

As Elon says, 'when you are the biggest kid on the block act like you wanted the biggest kid on the block to act back when you weren't.'

-Crissa

 

[Richard V.]

Whether it be Biden or Trump, they are just a part of the political machine with the same old teleprompter to read to America.

You will have to pick in the US the less evil one in the end. There is no way out.
Don’t take it for granted that the light of consciousness will continue in this space...
Has a child I had to pick my mother or my father and I think I did well...
"Social workers/media" are not here to help young boys.
"All I Want For Christmas..." - YouTube

 

[ZARDOZ]

from my perspective, as someone who has recently worked in blue color jobs such as welding and manufacturing...
my friends who are in unions make a wage that actually lets them live and enjoy life, while non union workers make barely enough to survive....
such as tesla workers

This is the first I've heard this. So you're saying Telsa employees are making barely enough to survive?

 

[ÆCIII]

When Elon asks, "What did you (un) design?" to eliminate processes or things detrimental or not needed? - 'unions' are the first thing that come to mind.

Tesla workers' pay is not just about salary, but also about Stock options and other benefits. Tesla's business model is not just working - it's working better than all the others - which is what unions hate because Elon has shown that 'unions' are part of the 'fat' and 'adipose tissue' of a business model, and for substance and the mission unions are irrelevant.

In the past, unions may have done some good, but all the while their human temptation to mascaraed as employee advocates while actually skimming money and thirsting for political agendas is now more apparent than ever, and their deluded notion to think they have a 'place' in every workforce is pure arrogance and reflects their true colors.

Elon's focus and Tesla's mission is worth working hard for. Unions only have a mission to skim from employees for money and power, under the guise of 'supporting' employees. Employees don't need union support because we already live in a free country where employees are free to evaluate and work at any corporation they choose.

Once you see through all the faux membership structure, unions today are nothing more than a parasitic entity attempting to enforce mandatory political donations from employees. Tesla doesn't need entanglements with external organizations (political or otherwise), to support it's mission of sustainability.

 

[Crissa]

If you think Tesla does good by its employees, think... What makes sure that's true? If you think unions are corrupt... What makes companies not corrupt?

And then wonder why, if Tesla does as well as unionized places for renumeration... why is the average pay of non-unionized jobs so low?

-Crissa

 

[Newton]

This is the first I've heard this. So you're saying Telsa employees are making barely enough to survive?

perhaps its an issue with location of the Fremont factory but
factory workers make like 20 bucks an hour where a room for rent is cheapest $1000

go to Kentucky toyota plant where you can rent a room for as little as 600$ and the pay is still about 20$

gm factory worked pay is supposedly 23$ again in a location that greatly cheaper to live

 

[John K]

Dude. Political. And factually incorrect.

One party voted against EVs and me being able to marry my spouse (and cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes).
The other party got me my passport, allowed my spouse and I to marry, and has put solar and EVs on the forefront multiple administrations.

Not the same.

-Crissa

Why were we not invited to the wedding?

 

[Bill906]

Why were we not invited to the wedding?

You weren't?

awkward....

 

[Crissa]

Why were we not invited to the wedding?

It was in 2018! Back when Cybertruck was but a secret glint in Elon's eye.

...Celebrating our twentieth anniversary. We actually were married with a certificate the first day it was legal in our county. The county office had an arch set up and gave out giant cup-cakes to all the couples who came through that day. ...Which was, coincidentally, the date of our 15th anniversary.

-Crissa

 

[Cybertruck Hawaii]

We wouldn’t need a union if management played fair.

 

[Cybertruckee]

i'll do one over. Make worker representative sit in the board like the companies in those dang democratic socialist Nordic countries where there is virtually no poverty.

Remember it was GM management that dropped the ball in their bankruptcy but it was their workers that suffered and made sacrifices for the company to turn-around.

And yeah, I should be anti-union and even early on had to face them across the table in negotiations of when I'm about or have fired my union-member staff.

Too, I should be with Musk as a stockholder but not when I got letter from him saying I should vote against stockholders' initiative on company's adherence to principles of inclusion.