Tesla Accused Of Poor Working Conditions In Their Factories; Unionization Efforts On

Tesla is in the news for the wrong reasons. It is reported that an employee at the company's Fremont, California assembly facility, Jose Moran, exposed the poor working conditions at the company. It was also reported that with the help of United Autoworkers Union there are attempts made to unionize the factory employees.

There are various allegations against Tesla and the way it has been functioning when it comes to worker's wage and living conditions. The report stated that the workers at the Tesla auto factory earn much lesser than the average wage for auto workers nationwide. Also, it is revealed that the company is involved in unethical practices as they were asked to sign a new confidentiality policy, reported Autoblog.

"As California's largest manufacturing employer and a company that has created thousands of quality jobs here in the Bay Area, this is not the first time we have been the target of a professional union organizing effort such as this. The safety and job satisfaction of our employees here at Tesla has always been extremely important to us. 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," said a Tesla spokesperson in response to the report, reported Tech Crunch.

While the company is accused of paying low wages, it should be considered that the cost of living is higher as the workers reside in California Bay Area. It is said that Tesla has slowly started paying attention to the grievances of the employees and had increased the base pay in November. There are attempts made by Tesla to make the production run smooth as the company is finally gearing up for the production of Model 3.

Elon Musk was not quiet on the issue and chose to respond via Twitter. Musk admitted that there are times when the company used mandatory overtime but they are trying to stop this practice gradually. He countered the accusation on the low wages offered to employees saying that the wages that the company offered to its employees are higher than those offered to UAW employees. Tesla also offers stock grants to the employees which make their compensation exceed the equivalent UAW wages. Musk stated that the accusations are morally outrageous and it is a part of the larger plan of UAW to unionize the factory. He emphasized that Tesla was never anti-union.