Unions press for place with Tesla (SFGate.com)

[RobStark]

David R. Baker

Tesla Motors prides itself on being more Silicon Valley than Detroit.
Its executives see the electric automaker as a nimble startup disrupting a stale industry. In classic valley fashion, they say their technology can change the world.
And their workers don't belong to a union.

The Fremont factory where Tesla builds its Model S sedan used to be a union shop, back when it was run by a joint venture of General Motors and Toyota Motor Corp. It closed in 2010, and from the day it reopened under Tesla's banner, its employees have worked

That could change. The United Auto Workers union has expressed interest in organizing Tesla's plant. UAW President Bob King told an auto industry website that the union had set up an organizing committee at the factory. Union representatives had also met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, King said in August.


Full Article in Link

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Unions-press-for-place-with-Tesla-5109708.php

 

[Doug_G]

Since almost the entire thread seems to be off topic, I have moved the whole discussion to the Off Topic section, thread is Unions

Sorry for moving those couple of individuals who mentioned the word "Tesla" in their post. I didn't want to break the flow. Feel free to continue discussion about unions at Tesla here. Discussions about the merits of unions belongs in the Off Topic section.

Thanks!

 

[ElSupreme]

Does anyone know Tesla's official position on Unions, all it says is "Neutral" in the article.


But in reality are the generally against or for this sort of labor structure? The article seems to paint Elon in the 'We can talk about it' camp, but paints other "Managers" in the 'hell no' camp.

 

[Doug_G]

I'm going to go out not-very-far on a limb and suggest that they wouldn't be keen on a union.

 

[Canuck]

Here's a recent article with a good but older quote from Elon Musk:

http://green.autoblog.com/2014/01/06/uaw-organizing-committee-tesla-fremont-factory/

 

[VolkerP]

relevant quote from there - I think that illustrates the typical way how Elon tackles most problems.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk at least has a plan for running his shop both with and without a union. As he told Wired in 2009, "Most of our experienced factory workers come from unionized environments, and we asked them what benefit did they see in unions. They said, 'Well, if their boss was an a$$h0le, they had recourse.' I said, 'Let's make a rule: There will be no a$$h0les.' I fired someone for being an a$$h0le. And I only had to do that once, actually."

 

[lolachampcar]

you just gotta love this guy

 

[chickensevil]

I am generally anti-union these days so I would look at it negatively, but I am glad that he is trying to work around it no matter which way it goes. The biggest issue I am afraid of is them going union and sucking down more overhead onto the company. They are already taking just about every penny they get and throwing it back into the company... adding on just union dues on top of this, is not going to help the company grow. As long as the employees are getting treated fairly, I don't see why they would ever go union.