A Unionized Tesla Workforce Could Benefit All Parties

[Quicksilver]

Once unions became political they lost objectivity and supported the candidate that would give them the most bang for their campaign contribution.
We saw what happened at the EV dog and pony show put on by the White House recently. Tesla was deliberately excluded because they have no union workers (and their workers don't want a union).
In a few years the unions will be clamoring for the government to bail out the legacy auto makers that are already behind the eight ball when it comes to converting to making EV's.
I hope by that time we have politicians that won't cave into political blackmail and will let them go bankrupt without throwing money down a failing rathole.
I live in a small town in NE Alabama.
For many years the two best paying jobs (union jobs) were Goodyear and the steel plant.
Both of those industries are gone and the union workers are now doing non-union jobs or (in the case of Goodyear) getting paid retraining (via tax dollars) to go to work at other non-union jobs.
The union still has an office open and the union bosses are still drawing a paycheck.
I worked for a government contractor in Anniston and three times the union tried to sign us up (led by ex-union employees from the steel plant).
We voted them down three times because we had good benefits and were treated fairly by the company.
I have never had a job I couldn't walk away from if I didn't like it.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

Dirty pool......it's what unions do. But hey, it's ok because it's for "the workers", right?

I am confused. First you post the pro-union article and then you post a non-union statement. Make up your mind. Tesla workers are not forbidden from joining or forming a union. If they did they would give up stock options and what would they gain? I was a faculty member once, and a restaurant worker, and a slew of other things. I think of myself as pro labor, because I think we should honor the workers and punish unbridled greed wherever and whenever it rears it’s ugly head. The play between business and labor is thus necessary. The workers have to make the decision for themselves.

 

[Crissa]

There was never a point where Unions weren't political. They were political before they were Unions.

-Crissa

 

[Crissa]

I am confused. First you post the pro-union article and then you post a non-union statement. Make up...

One is news, which he posts. One is his personal opinion.

News about Tesla is important to this community because it gets us talking, keeps us informed. Knowing what others are talking about is important in general as it lets us predict the world around us.

-Crissa

 

[Red61224]

Workers need a union to negotiate with their union.

I do not advocate doing away with unions, I would like them to be restructured to focus solely on the core principals. 100,000 feet comment

My late father was a Union man for years and if he was alive today he would vomit with the actions of the AFL-CIO which he was a member of for 25 years and Treasury of the local he worked in. Dad has been deceased since 2000 but I still get the union propaganda in the mail about once a year and read it and laugh. I watched how the unions got in bed with one particular political group and threw their morals and convictions in the trash can in order to bend a knee to the union bosses and their masters. Nope, I congratulate Tesla for not being beholding to the UAW.

 

[jerhenderson]

They can be, and shouldn't be.

But the same goes for company execs protecting management or 'stars' when reports of misconduct come up, too.

We need a better way.

-Crissa

agreed.... just a mistake to assume a union makes it better for workers.

 

[Red61224]

agreed.... just a mistake to assume a union makes it better for workers.

I recall watching an investigative news segment about unions and the "protection" they provided for the members. So they set up a camera crew at a park outside one of the legacy automakers and filmed them on their "lunch break" funny thing is these guys were there enjoying a liquid lunch break and smoking weed all with the intent to see how high they could get before it was time to return to the plant. Some were chugging as fast as they could like it was some type of race. The news crew even attempted to interview the union boys and the "workers" fired up the van and fled the scene. Union protection for their jobs prevailed.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chrysler-workers-canned-for-drinking-on-the-job-reinstated

 

[Crissa]

I watched how the unions got in bed with one particular political group and threw their morals and ...

One party votes against the existence of Unions and the other votes for them. It's pretty simple.

When you start talking 'morals' and political parties, that's... Not politics. And probably what's destroying Unions.

agreed.... just a mistake to assume a union makes it better for workers.

On average, it's better.

Just like under democracy, on average, it's better for all of us. But you know, we gotta watch out for when some guy gets elected and tries to line his own pockets. Or votes against civil rights. Or you know, the eighteenth amendment. Ya know.

-Crissa

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

One is news, which he posts. One is his personal opinion.

News about Tesla is important to this community because it gets us talking, keeps us informed. Knowing what others are talking about is important in general as it lets us predict the world around us.

-Crissa

I prefer for the post an opinion to be in the same post. Otherwise i get confused as i said. Not only that, but i want the opinion first, like "look at this folks, i don't agree with it for X, Y, and Z reasons but there you have it"...

 

[Crissa]

I prefer for the post an opinion to be in the same post.

Reasonable. Me too. But I'm compromised with this, as long as there's links ^-^

-Crissa

 

[TruckElectric]

I wonder why the Toyota truck plant in San Antonio(TMMTX) has been non-union since 2006?

 

[Crissa]

I wonder why the Toyota truck plant in San Antonio(TMMTX) has been non-union since 2006?

There's lots of reasons.

A big one is politics. Polarization and anti-collective sentiment is a real thing. That's mostly why the South remains non-Union. It's a fallacy, no man is an island and no company negotiates with a potential hire at the same level as an individual.

A small but notable one is racism. Unions had to choose between being racist or continuing to exist about forty years ago, and chose to be anti-racist. Well, a small number of people are still quite racist. It only takes a percent to tilt an election result.

Another is misinformation: Companies are allowed to campaign against Unions with actual misinformation. Union dues are compared against wages, while in actual fact, Union members (even counting dues) tend to be paid higher than their industry average. Companies also tend to fight by moving people around in positions which confuses who is allowed to vote or campaign.

And of course, there's those who've had a bad experience with Unions. Personally, in my late 20s I was turned away from apprenticeships for being 'too old'. I've been turned away for being 'too educated'. And I've been hired by split-contract shops. Lots of my generation have literally never been offered a Union job, or had the protectionism from Unions turned against them.

So there's lots of reasons people may not want to vote for a Union. This is why I think the era of major Unions should go away and all shops just be their own Union - and choose their own collaborations - instead of this hodge-podge.

And we should ban some contract practices which lead to unequal treatment of potential workers or protectionism of bad workers. Just like we need to reform how executives operate when they're abusive.

-Crissa

 

[ajdelange]

... why would companies sign up to be part of a union[?]

Because the union made them an offer they couldn't refuse?

 

[ÆCIII]

There was never a point where Unions weren't political. They were political before they were Unions.

-Crissa

Which is a strong reason to not have them in Tesla or any other decent place of work. Political activism in the work place is like a rogue hand pulling on the wheel of a ship. You wouldn't want a 'disgruntled' passenger jerking the wheel of your car at a critical moment while you (or the car's FSD) is driving would you? Not sure unions are good for the workplace or the country any more.

Think about it, if the UAW was really beneficial, wouldn't they have helped to steer ICE car manufacturers in a more healthy direction starting much earlier, instead of the dive course they are on now - obviously trying to corruptly smoodge the government for another undeserved taxpayer bailout? Seems like unions would be also just another degenerative element in the workplace for disgruntled or incompetent workers, to gain corrupt undeserved leverage and thereby choking production and the company.

Even now, those who are pro-union in this post are often coinciding with one-sided political bias, which is certainly not good. Not good at all.

Tesla knows this and has always known this. If Tesla had been entangled by a union throughout it's growth since 2003, I don't think we would have nearly the successes in Tesla we are realizing today. In fact, if Tesla had been entangled by unions it might not even still exist today.

I just don't think political elements in the workplace are sustainable, as they inherently add instability. It seems like unions are beginning to realize people are on to this, with their lack of viability becoming more apparent and are thus feeling threatened by it, which would explain the sudden push for unions by some.

Smart sustainability and political instability are obviously not compatible, which I think is why UAW and other competitive elements are now showing their 'fear' of Tesla. But their 'fear' of Tesla in actuality is their insecurities about their own processes and agendas - often being incompatible with cohesive work production; so in their self-hindering mindsets they know they can't compete.

Respectfully,

-ÆCIII

 

[TruckElectric]

In fact, if Tesla had been entangled by unions it might not even still exist today.

I would venture to say Tesla would not exist today if they were unionized from the beginning.