National Labor Relations Board issued an order against the multi-billionaire Elon Musk this week, stating that he should delete a Tweet from 2018 that “coercively threatened” Tesla workers with losing stock options if they formed a union.
His statement directly opposed laws of union organizing; hence have been asked to fall back from this narrative. Authorities have been waiting for a due response. However, neither Tesla nor its CEO has made a statement until now.
The notice from the federal workplace regulator came on Thursday. At the moment, Musk’s tweet — “Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?” is still up on Twitter.
The panel of three found that in 2017, Tesla, in an illegal feat, interrogated three of its workers attempting to form a union over safety concerns at the Tesla’s Palo Alto electric Fremont plant. Later, one of the workers was illegally fired. Employees were forced to sign a confidential agreement that opposed the union laws, banning workers from disclosing the working conditions on media or elsewhere.
Tesla workers released a report in 2017 that showed data from California’s worker-safety agency. It recorded that Tesla’s Fremont plant bore 31 percent more injuries than other automobile manufacturing plants. Later, Tesla responded with a statement that these conditions were created by long working hours and pressure to meet the delivery goals, which have been broadly amended along with better and improved safety conditions created at the plant.
A recent report from Alameda county stated that more than 400 Covid-19 cases had been reported at Tesla’s Fremont plant when it resumed its business, violating the county health orders. The giant electric auto manufacturer closed its production plants last March and later resumed production in May, stating they are abiding by the standard operating procedures amidst the pandemic. Tesla said of following the safety protocols laid down by the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of health and human services, the W.H.O, and regional health authorities.
The warning sent to Tesla by the National Labor Relations Board ordered the firm to post the notice in conspicuous places at the plant for a period of 60 days to remind the workers of their due rights to form a union. Tesla is now guided not to make any rules that stop its workers from talking to the media about its plants’ working conditions. The notice should also include that Tesla won’t discipline, discriminate, or fire any employee involved in unionizing any form.
Tesla has been asked to incorporate a statement that “it will make its CEO delete the Tweet” against the labor unions. However, Tesla argued that the Tweet was protected under the U.S constitution’s free-speech act. However, it faced a supreme court’s ruling that “a statement loses that protection if it is based on a misinterpretation of the union bargaining consequences.”
