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    Musk on a collision course with Europe's unions 📂 Archived Message

    Posted by sashimi on December 9, 2020, 8:38 pm

    Tony Burke, 9 December 2020

    (quote)
    Tesla and its maverick owner may have got away with anti-worker and
    anti-union practices in the US, but their new factory in Germany will
    be a different story

    When Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of electric auto maker Tesla,
    landed his private jet in Berlin in November (unannounced, in the
    middle of Germany's national lockdown) he tweeted he was there to
    recruit engineers.

    "Recruiting ace engineers for Giga Berlin! Will interview in person
    tomorrow on site," he wrote. Within minutes thousands of engineers
    replied seeking an interview.

    Tesla, a hi-tech manufacturer, may attract many young and aspiring
    engineers and technical staff to their employment. But Musk is no fan
    of trade unions. Tesla workers in the USA have filed complaints about
    low pay and poor working conditions. Musk himself has opposed workers'
    attempts to unionise.

    An official of the largest trade union in Germany, IG Metall, said:
    "We are in touch with our sister organisations at other Tesla
    facilities [in the US] so we are fully aware of personal allegations,
    as well as legal accusations and litigations against Tesla."

    Tesla's new giga factory in Grunheide south-east of Berlin is aiming
    to build 500,000 electric vehicles a year in Germany. Tesla says it
    will recruit 12,000 workers - from engineers, warehouse workers and
    printing technicians with a production start-up planned for the summer
    of 2021.

    Musk has clashed with IG Metall before at Grohmann Engineering in the
    small town of Prum in 2017. He bought the company and turned it into
    the Tesla Advanced Automation Group and tried to negotiate directly
    with its workers.

    After much wrangling, an agreement for a 30 per cent salary increase,
    a one-off payment of $10,000 in cash or Tesla stock over four quarters
    and job guarantees until at least 2022 was agreed with the works
    council.

    Recruitment for jobs at the new giga factory is being undertaken by an
    employment agency in Frankfurt which is recruiting workers from
    Brandenburg and Berlin, many of whom are unemployed or are changing
    jobs.

    They are also now offering wages which are higher than the current
    median wage in Brandenburg. The lowest wage group at Tesla are offered
    a salary of €2,700 (£2,450) per month, while employees with relevant
    vocational training will receive €3,500 (£3,200) per month.

    Tesla's work culture has become notorious in recent years. "Workers
    are expected to do anything and everything to get cars off the
    assembly line on time," says Steve Smith, communications director of
    the California Labour Federation (CLF).

    Musk is known for being "extremely anti-union," adds Smith and has
    even broken laws to prevent his workers at the Fremont Plant in
    California from unionising.

    This has reportedly had serious consequences for some workers - both
    in terms of their pay and benefits, but also in terms of their health
    and safety. One report stated that long hours of physical labour
    caused six of a team of eight workers at Fremont to take simultaneous
    medical leave.

    IG Metall has played an important role in keeping the German
    automotive sector both stable and innovative through collective
    agreements that apply to the whole industry - but not at the expense
    of undercutting pay, conditions and workers' rights.

    Steve Smith of the CLF says: "Innovation is not exploitation - and
    that's something that CEOs like Elon Musk just don't
    understand. Exploiting your workforce is in no way furthering the
    cause of progress - in fact, it takes us back in time 100 years before
    we even had labour laws."

    According to Musk, it's the unions that are stuck in the past. During
    the dispute at Grohmann industries, he referred to IG Metall as having
    "outdated values."

    IG Metall has welcomed the company and its investment and offered an
    opportunity for dialogue. But so far, Tesla hasn't responded.

    Musk will also be minded that IG Metall, in its fight to win a 28-hour
    working week for better work-life balance and a 4.3 per cent pay deal,
    staged a series of warning strikes that cost the likes of Porsche,
    Daimler, BMW and Airbus €200 million in lost production.

    It would be a major mistake for Musk to think he can avoid German
    labour standards - as one IG Metall official stated: "Workers' rights
    are rights. They are not up for discussion."

    Tony Burke is an assistant general secretary at Unite and
    vice-president of IndustriALL Europe.
    (/quote)
    -- https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/musk-on-a-collision-course-with-europes-unions

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