[USA] Tesla violated labour laws with tweeted threat

A California labour judge has ruled that Tesla violated labour laws by threatening employees when they attempted to unionize, Channel 3000 reports (with contributions from CNN).

Amita Baman Tracy - an Administrative Law Judge - ruled that Tesla had violated the National Labor Relations Act multiple times in 2017 and 2018. Tesla must now hold a meeting to advise workers about their rights. The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, is required to attend.

The highlighted violations included a tweet sent by Mr Musk in May 2018, which read, "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?" (links via original reporting)

It was the judge’s opinion that the tweet amounted to "threatening employees" that voting to unionize would lose them their stock options.  "Musk's tweet can only be read by a reasonable employee to indicate that if the employees vote to unionize that they would give up stock options," Judge Tracy wrote. "Musk threatened to take away a benefit enjoyed by the employees consequently for voting to unionize."
The ruling also found Tesla to have violated labour laws by banning employees in their off-hours from handing out leaflets in the employee parking lot in Fremont, California, for telling its employees that it was futile to vote for the union, and for interrogating employees about their union activities.

Judge Tracy ruled that Tesla must "cease and desist" such behaviour and fully reinstate and compensate one employee who had been unlawfully fired for their involvement with union activities. Additionally, the company has to inform workers at a meeting that Tesla had several violations of the National Labor Relations Act.
The ruling was a response to unfair labour practise complaints filed by the United Auto Workers union (UAW), including a complaint filed in 2017 which accused the company of firing union supporters.

The UAW did not immediately comment on the ruling but said Tesla workers have not yet held a vote on unionizing. Tesla did not immediately comment. It is unclear whether the company will appeal.

In 2017, Tesla claimed that no employee had ever been punished for supporting a union, in its response to a UAW complaint.

In a 2018 statement to CNN Business, a spokesperson for Tesla defended Musk's tweet saying, "Elon's tweet was simply a recognition of the fact that unlike Tesla, we're not aware of a single UAW-represented automaker that provides stock options or restricted stock units to their production employees, and UAW organizers have consistently dismissed the value of Tesla (TSLA) equity as part of our compensation package."

On Saturday UAW said its contracts with Ford, Chrysler and General Motors did have profit-sharing plans.

A California labour judge has ruled that Tesla violated labour laws by threatening employees when they attempted to unionize, Channel 3000 reports (with contributions from CNN).

Amita Baman Tracy - an Administrative Law Judge - ruled that Tesla had violated the National Labor Relations Act multiple times in 2017 and 2018. Tesla must now hold a meeting to advise workers about their rights. The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, is required to attend.

The highlighted violations included a tweet sent by Mr Musk in May 2018, which read, "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?" (links via original reporting)

It was the judge’s opinion that the tweet amounted to "threatening employees" that voting to unionize would lose them their stock options.  "Musk's tweet can only be read by a reasonable employee to indicate that if the employees vote to unionize that they would give up stock options," Judge Tracy wrote. "Musk threatened to take away a benefit enjoyed by the employees consequently for voting to unionize."
The ruling also found Tesla to have violated labour laws by banning employees in their off-hours from handing out leaflets in the employee parking lot in Fremont, California, for telling its employees that it was futile to vote for the union, and for interrogating employees about their union activities.

Judge Tracy ruled that Tesla must "cease and desist" such behaviour and fully reinstate and compensate one employee who had been unlawfully fired for their involvement with union activities. Additionally, the company has to inform workers at a meeting that Tesla had several violations of the National Labor Relations Act.
The ruling was a response to unfair labour practise complaints filed by the United Auto Workers union (UAW), including a complaint filed in 2017 which accused the company of firing union supporters.

The UAW did not immediately comment on the ruling but said Tesla workers have not yet held a vote on unionizing. Tesla did not immediately comment. It is unclear whether the company will appeal.

In 2017, Tesla claimed that no employee had ever been punished for supporting a union, in its response to a UAW complaint.

In a 2018 statement to CNN Business, a spokesperson for Tesla defended Musk's tweet saying, "Elon's tweet was simply a recognition of the fact that unlike Tesla, we're not aware of a single UAW-represented automaker that provides stock options or restricted stock units to their production employees, and UAW organizers have consistently dismissed the value of Tesla (TSLA) equity as part of our compensation package."

On Saturday UAW said its contracts with Ford, Chrysler and General Motors did have profit-sharing plans.