A Unionized Tesla Workforce Could Benefit All Parties

[Ogre]

NYC at least. Public sector unions are a bane on existence. They donate to the person they are then negotiating with. Is there a large city in the country that has a good school system?

I don't think NYC teachers are getting paid comparable to what other professionals with 6 years required education in NYC get paid. Absolute maximum teacher wage in NYC is $100k in one of the most expensive cities to live in in the country. A green behind the ears developer working in NYC is likely making much more than that.

I'm not a major "Pro Union" guy, but teachers get crap for pay pretty much universally. If schools are bankrupting a state, it's because the state or the school's finances are a mess, not because teachers are making money hand-over-fist.

 

[Bill906]

A unionized workforce is effectively a unionized company, which inherently leverages conditions and restraints on management, so yes I do at least partially blame the UAW for the current direction of ICE auto manufacturers.

So if a company does something wrong and it has a union it's the union's fault. This is exactly what I was talking about when I said corporations and the right side politicians keep painting unions as bad. They've done it so much that even executive decisions are blamed on the evil and corrupt unions. Please, take a deep breath, count to 10, then try to objectively look at how one sided your argument is, and how it's based on years of being told unions are bad and corrupt an not on facts or even reason.

Ford, GM and Chrysler executives are who decided not to invest in electric vehicle technology. Unions did not. That is not a decision for the unions. Would be nice to be an executive and get paid the big buck to make the hard decisions but when I make a bad decision I can blame the unions. When I make a good decision of course it was in spite of the unions.

 

[Dirt Worker]

Where are all these wealthy teachers bankrupting states? I certainly don't know any.

My mom, my dad, and my brother are all teachers and they get/ got paid jack shit. I'd love to know what state a teacher could go and get paid well in.

You live in one. Research pers pension depleting Oregon budget. Retirees enjoy a very good standard of living. My late father was a retired firefighter for Portland under that same pension. Teaching, as with any profession such as automobile manufacturing will have good and bad. Do unions help or hinder the best from excelling. We are still talking about unions right?

 

[Ogre]

You live in one. Research pers pension depleting Oregon budget. Retirees enjoy a very good standard of living. My late father was a retired firefighter for Portland under that same pension. Teaching, as with any profession such as automobile manufacturing will have good and bad. Do unions help or hinder the best from excelling. We are still talking about unions right?

Oregon Teachers are not wealthy. Oregon Teacher pensions are not particularly generous. Average teacher wages in Eugene are under $60k. My wife, a Chiropractic Assistant with 2 years training at the local community college earns as much. Teachers have better benefits, but my wife makes more per hour.

Lots of corrupt school and state officials want to throw teachers and the teacher's union under the bus, but that's hardly the sort of wage abuse you can blame on breaking the budget.

I've said before, I'm not pro or anti Union in general. I just think chasing teacher unions is barking up the wrong tree if you want to find unions which are net-negative to society. There are some which are definitely parasitic, the teachers union is neutral at worst.

 

[Dirt Worker]

Yes, I also don't know why you brought up this flatly untrue thing.

Unions do not create pension problems - bad financial management on the part of employers does. The Union didn't choose how the pensions were funded or promised.

A pension is a loan - the worker loaned some of their compensation now for payment later. How is it their fault that the employer took advantage of the loan but now wants to skip out on paying it?


The what where?

-Crissa

(My last response, I promise)
Some pensions are not directly related to the amount invested nor are they static. Oregon Pers (Now modified) has an annual inflation based cost of living increase and medical. Some pensions are like Ponzi schemes (Engineers Union) that are depleted by the earlier retirees. My father was exempt from paying Social Security but he had a side job so he could "double dip" like so many public workers did. Pensions are dying though so this topic should be dead as well respectively.

 

[ReddykwRun]

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

From my personal observation and keep in mind I've had the opportunity to join a union where I work and I choose not to, you see I follow the money. My local money would go to state which goes to national and the national office is diametrically opposed to everything I hold near and dear so F orget national and I will keep my own money, thank you very much. In the 17 years I have been working post military retirement I can not see any benefit at all of union membership in the NEA. They promise a lot and deliver very little. But hey, they give you cute coffee cups I hear.

Maybe San Antonio saw what the blood sucking ticks did to the legacy auto assembly plants and thought with their brains to pass on the offer of "candy from the nice stranger". Wise move.

 

[97trophy]

Bear with me.

Being an old fogey like Sandy Munro I remember a time when Japanese cars were laughed at in the only for sales to soar as the 70s progressed

I believe we face the same situation with Chinese EVs today - admittedly trucks may take them longer.

This is going to put huge pressure on TSLA & the UAW. There's a big fight coming in the marketplace. Union membership is guaranteed to push vehicle prices up and the American consumer wants cheap cars. And because of that I can't see the UAW surviving the switch to EVs.

 

[FullyGrounded]

A union isn't needed with Tesla - the workers have whatever they want and need, and more. Elon is a new kind of Employer, and a union isn't needed. peace

 

[Crissa]

NYC at least.

This is still off topic.

But there's no citation here. Nothing to discuss. Just demonizing.

I understand being upset at corruption, but all institutions have examples of corruption. It's about rooting that out, and building systems that resist corruption. Saying capitalists can just trash all that's built and faff off to somewhere else is literally encouraging corruption.

They donate to the person they are then negotiating with.

One could say the exact same thing about capitalists and corporations that select where they're going to faff off to by choosing the one with the most kickbacks.



Tesla pays more than average. That means most workers - especially those who aren't unionized - are paid less. That makes Tesla the outlier. Paying workers good wages is how you get good work.

-Crissa

 

[Crissa]

(My last response, I promise)
Some pensions are not directly related to the amount invested nor are they static.

That's why they're pensions and not defined contribution.

That has nothing to do with those receiving the pension - it has to do with those who promised them in the first place. The workers loaned deferred their compensation, in essence loaning their labor for these payments later.

It's not the workers' fault that they want to be paid for the loan they issued.

-Crissa

 

[jerhenderson]

Where are all these wealthy teachers bankrupting states? I certainly don't know any.

My mom, my dad, and my brother are all teachers and they get/ got paid jack shit. I'd love to know what state a teacher could go and get paid well in.

For one, teachers in the US are paid very poorly by Canadian standards. If those shitty US wages are bankrupting states then I conclude there was gross negligence in managing the finances of that state.

 

[David R Kirkpatrick]

A Unionized Tesla Workforce Could Benefit All Parties

Allowing workers to join the United Auto Workers would benefit not only employees but the company itself.

By
Carolyn Fortuna

Today, all political and all age cohorts hold record or near-record positive views favoring labor over big business. The steady rise in public support for labor and concurrent declining support for big business suggests a transformational shift in employer/employee relations. A unionized Tesla workforce right now could benefit Tesla as it would follow a shift in public opinion in favor of organized labor.

As someone who self-financed my own college education through to a doctorate, I experienced firsthand the vagaries of being a restaurant worker. I remember walking into the kitchen and ducking as a French knife flew across my field of vision. I heard constant tirades and slurs. My co-workers and I stood on our feet, hour after hour, without a break. We were paid below minimum wage during periods when no tipping customers were present. Health insurance or vacation time? Advanced notice of schedule? Sick days? Not for us as restaurant workers.

Post-higher education, I entered the teacher workforce and spent 20 years as a secondary English educator. Supported by the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the National Education Association, I received pay increases based on performance reviews, years served, and education accumulated. Health benefits allowed my family to have security. Length of work days, descriptions of duties, protocols for everything from acceptable work behavior to emergencies — the union collaborated and negotiated with the school district as to what an appropriate workplace should be like.

Being part of a union changed my life. A unionized Tesla workforce is an opportunity that could improve Tesla, give a boost to thousands of staff, and help Tesla’s image and long-term vision.

Infrastructure Bill Draws upon Union Support
The Senate gave overwhelming bipartisan approval on August 10 to a $1 trillion infrastructure bill to rebuild the nation’s deteriorating roads and bridges and fund new climate resilience and broadband initiatives, delivering a key component of President Biden’s agenda. The vote, which was 69 to 30, was “uncommonly bipartisan,” according to the New York Times.

The bipartisan endorsement that included a nod to transportation should be instructive to Tesla. Joining US President Biden for the public face of the announcement were executives from General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis, who made broad and noble statements about their commitments to electric transportation. Electric vehicles, however, are only a merest hint of these companies’ US sales, with 1.5% for GM, 1.3% for Ford, and none yet for Stellantis so far this year.

Tesla, which manufactures only battery electric vehicles, was excluded from the White House photo shoots and conversations. “Yeah, seems odd that Tesla wasn’t invited,” responded Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a tweet responding to a CleanTechnica article about it.



That exclusion makes me sad.

Tesla has been nothing less than revolutionary as it has opened up the US and world to all-electric transportation. By making electric transportation mainstream, it disrupted a legacy industry and offered a new business model and consumer approach. (Disclaimer: I am a Tesla stockholder.)

The United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agriculture Workers (UAW) union was also at the White House ceremony.

UAW-represented workplaces range from multinational corporations, small manufacturers and state and local governments to colleges and universities, hospitals, and private non-profit organizations. The UAW has more than 400,000 active members in more than 600 local unions and has 1,150 contracts with some 1,600 employers in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The UAW represents workers at GM, Ford, and Stellantis, but has been battling, so far unsuccessfully, to organize Tesla workers at its US plant in Fremont, California.

Indeed, right now Tesla is the only large US automaker without a unionized workforce. UAW spokesperson Brian Rothenberg said he was not aware that Tesla was not invited to the event.

Court Rulings on Tesla Unionization Controversies
In 2017, Tesla workers at its auto plant contacted the UAW to seek assistance to unionize. “We have a long history of engaging directly with our employees on the issues that matter to them, and we will continue to do so because it’s the right thing to do,” a Tesla spokesperson countered.

Administrative judge Amita Tracy pointed to 12 company actions in 2019 that violated US labor laws. That included letting security guards harass workers who were passing out union pamphlets in the parking lot, banning employees from wearing pro-union T-shirts and buttons, repeatedly interrogating union organizers, and eventually firing one of them.

Later, the National Labor Relations Board based their decision on Tracy’s ruling from 2019 and ordered Tesla to make Tesla’s chief executive delete a tweet that was seen as threatening to labor organizers who were discussing how to unionize within the company. The federal board also ordered Tesla to reinstate a terminated employee, Richard Ortiz, who was a union advocate. The order added that Elon Musk had illegally threatened workers with the loss of stock options if they unionized.

The Guardian reports that complaints from workers over being fired for engaging in efforts to unionize at Tesla have become common. “I was a union supporter. I wore a union shirt almost every day to work, and my supervisor at the time asked me why I wore it,” said Jim Owen, who left the Tesla factory in Fremont, California, in March 2018 due to concerns for his safety after a robot almost severely injured him while working on car hoods. “He told me upper management wouldn’t appreciate me wearing it.”

Unionization Would Be Good for Tesla & Its Workers
President Biden has taken a big step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions with an executive order aimed at making half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 electric, a move made with vocal backing from the prominent US automakers. “The biggest thing that’s happening here is there’s a realization, on the part of both labor and business now, that this is the future. We can’t sit by,” Biden told reporters at the White House.

Clearly, Tesla is not a company content to “sit by” — it continually files patentsto improve the quality of Tesla manufacturing. But, as a longtime Fremont autoworker wrote in Fortune, “We will only have a truly sustainable future if workers have a seat at the table throughout the transition from oil, gas, and internal combustion engines to batteries, charging stations, and zero-emission vehicles.”

Workers want to unionize so that they can have input into wages, hours, working conditions, and the many other issues that arise in the relationship between a worker and employer. Unions help set the standards for education, skill levels, wages, working conditions, and quality of life for workers. While not always the case, union-negotiated wages and benefits are generally superior to what non-union workers receive.

In Germany right now, labor unions are pressuring Tesla. It’s likely there will be a public relations campaign and protests to exert political and social pressure on Tesla to become what is considered a good corporate citizen. There could be organized rolling strikes or guerilla actions like slowing down work at a Tesla supplier or attempts to influence Tesla’s leadership from within.

The Biden administration has promised to strengthen union rights, incentivize unionization, and encourage collective bargaining. Research exposes how public feeling today toward labor is more positive, and public feeling toward big business more negative, than at any time in 5 decades. Workers increasingly want to unionize: over half of US workers say they would vote to unionize at their place of employment, while only 11% of US employees currently belong to one.

The bottom line is that, if Tesla was to become a union shop, both sides would benefit. With a stable workforce comes predictable labor costs. Tesla would be viewed publicly as an employer that makes a workforce safer, more productive, and more effective through training, better equipment, and making better use of their knowledge. The UAW, in turn, can be transparent in recognizing the needs of Tesla to be responsive to customers and competitive in its markets. It has already stated recently that the auto industry is now investing billions in the growth of electric vehicles, which could result in major changes in where and how vehicles are produced.

A recent survey from Consumer Reports found a third of US car buyers are considering an electric car the next time they purchase a new car. Having a Tesla company story that involves union workers and living wages would be a competitive advantage commercially, as those soon-to-be EV drivers would be more likely to choose a Tesla if their new car had been manufactured at a union facility.


SOURCE: CleanTechnica

I adamantly disagree with this post. I grew up in Michigan in the 1950s through the 1980s and witnessed firsthand the degradation of auto (and other) businesses by unions. Throughout college I worked in nonunion factories where the owners went out of their way to satisfy workers needs and conditions. Non union factories are forced to self improve and take responsibility for workers and conditions. Tesla maintains good employee relations without interferance and taxation from unions.
These days unions are graft-filled political organizations driven by greed and self perpetuating bureaucracy that keeps membership poor and unempowered.

 

[acasano]

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

Yes! Moreover, the Legacy Automakers with Unions sandbagging production have done nothing to advance the Auto Industry. In 1999 GM trashed the EV1, and now all are late to the change and may go under. How does that help the worker and our nation!

 

[chalupacabre]

I've Never worked for a Union, know plenty of people with decent union pensions. IMHO, the drawback to unions is they are contracted to crappy management corporations, i.e. Ford, GM ,etc. Failure corporations fail their workers first.

 

[alan auerbach]

While unionizing is helpful to protect workers and their pay I don't see that being necessary with Tesla ....

Agree. Value of unions can depend on the culture and union's orientation. For instance, German and especially Japanese unions are collaborative whereas North American ones can and sometimes do impede employer success.