Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Diversity/Harrassment Issues at Tesla?

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.

Qbenjamin

Frugal But Classy!
Jan 7, 2017
1,214
780
Bravos
I'm hoping that this doesn't really have any merit to it, but I wouldn't be surprised either. With the current environment, I've seen more and more people showing their true colors with regards to race relations in America. It's unfortunate that we seem to be reverting to a very divided society again, I thought that "all men were created equal."

"Tesla’s production floor is a "hotbed for racist behavior," more than 100 African-American employees claimed in a lawsuit in which they alleged black workers at the electric car maker suffer severe and pervasive harassment.

The employees are seeking permission from a judge to sue as a group and are seeking unspecified general and punitive monetary damages as well as an order for Tesla to implement policies to prevent and correct harassment.

"Although Tesla stands out as a groundbreaking company at the forefront of the electric car revolution, its standard operating procedure at the Tesla factory is pre-Civil Rights era race discrimination," the employees said in the complaint, filed Monday in California’s Alameda County Superior Court.

Tesla has roughly 33,000 employees globally but has never publicly released its diversity statistics. More than 10,000 employees work at its sole auto assembly plant in Fremont, California, where the United Auto Workers have launched a campaign to convince workers to join the union. On Tesla’s most recent earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk acknowledged that the company recently fired about 700 workers for low performance.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Marcus Vaughn, who worked in the Fremont factory from April 23 to Oct. 31. Vaughn alleged that employees and supervisors regularly used the “N word” around him and other black colleagues. Vaughn said he complained in writing to human resources and Musk and was terminated in late October for "not having a positive attitude."

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Larry Organ, an attorney at the California Civil Rights Law Group, said that Vaughn reached out to him after the law firm sued Tesla on behalf of other African American employees who complained about racial harassment this year..."

Full article can be found here
 
  • Informative
Reactions: croman
Another click bait, bs article planted by anti Tesla or pro union forces. Elon would never in a million years tolerate that type of thing.
Leadership isn't always to blame for the minority of ignorant managers, but the finger pointing is always going to go straight up the chain.

Only time will tell, but I hope that the allegations are proven to be untrue...
 
Larry Organ, an attorney at the California Civil Rights Law Group, said that Vaughn reached out to him after the law firm sued Tesla on behalf of other African American employees who complained about racial harassment this year..."

Full article can be found here

Leadership isn't always to blame for the minority of ignorant managers, but the finger pointing is always going to go straight up the chain.

Only time will tell, but I hope that the allegations are proven to be untrue...
Leadership isn't always to blame for the minority of ignorant managers, but the finger pointing is always going to go straight up the chain.

Only time will tell, but I hope that the allegations are proven to be untrue...

This guy worked there 6 months...please...time to cash in.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: Eclectic and croman
I hope Musk did not really say this

“Part of not being a huge jerk is considering how someone might feel who is part of [a] historically less represented group,” Musk wrote in the email. “Sometimes these things happen unintentionally, in which case you should apologize. In fairness, if someone is a jerk to you, but sincerely apologizes, it is important to be thick-skinned and accept that apology.”

“The law doesn’t require you to have a thick skin,” Organ said in an interview Monday. "Tesla is not doing enough. It’s somewhat akin to saying ‘stop being politically correct.’ When you have a diverse workforce, you need to take steps to make sure everyone feels welcome in that workforce."
 
I hope Musk did not really say this

“Part of not being a huge jerk is considering how someone might feel who is part of [a] historically less represented group,” Musk wrote in the email. “Sometimes these things happen unintentionally, in which case you should apologize. In fairness, if someone is a jerk to you, but sincerely apologizes, it is important to be thick-skinned and accept that apology.”

“The law doesn’t require you to have a thick skin,” Organ said in an interview Monday. "Tesla is not doing enough. It’s somewhat akin to saying ‘stop being politically correct.’ When you have a diverse workforce, you need to take steps to make sure everyone feels welcome in that workforce."

Next we'll hear that he was on the plant intercom...
*squawk* Attention everyone. Sticks and stones! Suck it up, people. Now get back to work. That is all...
 
  • Funny
Reactions: croman
There are two things at play here and before I go through how I see them I have to warn you some of it may be offensive...

Okay so the two things I see here are:

1. The UAW is foaming at the mouth to get their cut of Tesla's success. Make no mistake about it, all of this recent bad press is due to the UAW. Tesla has shown a willingness to do what it takes to keep them out which is only causing them to significantly ratchet up their slander in order to gain public sympathy which will be used to shoehorn their way in. Tesla MUST remain vigilant. If the UAW is successful then Tesla will cease to exist as we know it today. I'm not being overly dramatic, I'm simply telling you what happens when a union gets ahold of a successful business. Tesla will be unable to fire poor performing workers, they'll be extorted into paying wages that are ridiculously high, all of us will suffer because of it. Supercharging expansion will grind to a halt for one, same goes for service center expansion as all that capital is redirected into keep the union happy. It's impossible to overstate the risk.

Tesla must keep the UAW out of their company. If they are unsuccessful and the UAW gets in then I have no problems with Tesla moving production somewhere else... I think they are quietly looking at moving it all to the gigafactory anyhow but that's completely unfounded speculation on my part. Nevada isn't as labor friendly as CA is for starters.

2. Okay so this is the offensive part, second disclaimer. Tesla does likely have some issues here that need to be addressed. The problem is, I'm not sure how you address them... I know a few factory workers at Tesla and I'm just going to be honest here, it's dominated by white working class people who are by and large uneducated. These are the same kinds of people who voted for Trump, who think their the ones being discriminated against, and think Faux News is the only factual news outlet out there. No, not all of them are like this before I get accused of that broad generalization, but they outnumber those who aren't. These kinds of ignorant people think racist/sexist/homophobic jokes and behaviors are funny and their god-given right... Unfortunately, it's very difficult to find assembly line labor that is educated and not ignorant white trash due to the low wages of the assembly line worker so Tesla has to employ who it can find. Tesla needs workers to assemble their vehicles currently which is why you see them pushing very hard towards robotics.

What can Tesla do? Not much. You can attempt to force a climate of acceptance and tolerance but you're never going to be 100% successful at that as supervisors and managers must be on board with the climate and willing to stamp out this kind of behavior when they see it and even then, they can't be everywhere all the time. I think this is what Elon was referring to with the thick skin stuff.

Is it wrong? Absolutely. Can Tesla do anything about it? Likely not. Is the UAW going to eventually be able to use it to win? Probably...

Folks, the days of Tesla as we know it are coming to an end and it's going to kill the company eventually... Our only hope here is Tesla can accelerate the advancement in robotics fast enough to offset the need for unskilled UAW labor...

One last thing, I fully understand why this post may be moved to snippiness and as a result, sanction my account for it. I get it, I'm just telling it like I see it and the way I see it is certainly uncomfortable to read.

Jeff
 
Okay so the two things I see here are:

1. Tesla will be unable to fire poor performing workers, they'll be extorted into paying wages that are ridiculously high, all of us will suffer because of it.

2. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to find assembly line labor that is educated and not ignorant white trash due to the low wages of the assembly line worker so Tesla has to employ who it can find.

Jeff

Uhmmm...
 

I stand behind my post. I warned everyone it was going to be offensive to some and I accept the consequences for it. I used a broad generalization that's not 100% applicable to everyone. I just know the people that I know and grew up where I grew up and as such, my life experiences impact this post. There is a direct link between education level and discriminatory behavior...

Jeff
 
I stand behind my post. I warned everyone it was going to be offensive to some and I accept the consequences for it. I used a broad generalization that's not 100% applicable to everyone. I just know the people that I know and grew up where I grew up and as such, my life experiences impact this post. There is a direct link between education level and discriminatory behavior...

Jeff

I am not confused by your generalizations... they are what they are.

I am confused by saying that high pay/benefits will be a negative for Tesla...
and then you complain about the negatives of low pay/benefits for workers.
 
I am not confused by your generalizations... they are what they are.

I am confused by saying that high pay/benefits will be a negative for Tesla...
and then you complain about the negatives of low pay/benefits for workers.

Fair enough. My apologies for not seeing that obvious distinction in your original quote of my post... Now that I see what point you were trying to make I will now respond to that... :)

Yes, it's a very difficult situation in that how do you find unskilled labor that is socially enlightened and educated while paying unskilled wages? The answer is probably, you can't...

Jeff
 
I stand behind my post. I warned everyone it was going to be offensive to some and I accept the consequences for it. I used a broad generalization that's not 100% applicable to everyone. I just know the people that I know and grew up where I grew up and as such, my life experiences impact this post. There is a direct link between education level and discriminatory behavior...

Jeff
You are painting a very broad stroke with only a drop of paint here.
 
My opinion:

The company will not be killed by this.

Workers can be educated. Teach them exactly what behaviour is acceptable and which is not. Uneducated people need to be educated. If you cannot hire enough educated people then you must educate them.

This will not achieve 100 % success rate. You might have to let some people go. But I believe the majority can be educated and it will be better for TESLA.
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Thora and jeffro01
Another click bait, bs article planted by anti Tesla or pro union forces. Elon would never in a million years tolerate that type of thing.

That's right about Elon. He grew up in apartheid South Africa. He said he came to America rather than join the South African army (which was compulsory) and persecute black people. So if there is discrimination hapening at Tesla it's definitely not coming from the top.
 
That's right about Elon. He grew up in apartheid South Africa. He said he came to America rather than join the South African army (which was compulsory) and persecute black people. So if there is discrimination hapening at Tesla it's definitely not coming from the top.

The "meh, grow thicker skin" email from Elon definitely doesn't do much to stomp out that kind of behavior though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: croman