Because Twitter’s acquisition didn’t actively cause enough trouble, Elon Musk now he can look forward to Tesla workers unionizing. This development according to a tweet by Christian Smallsan increasingly influential union leader who co-founded the Amazon Labor Union, which rallied workers in an unprecedented legal victory against the retail giant, earning plaudits from Trevor Noah, Sen. Bernie Sanders, President Biden and a place in TIME magazineTop 100 most influential people of 2022.
Working conditions for the modern employee are far from perfect, especially in factory work, as seen in Amazon, Apple and other multinational corporations. Musk’s Tesla has seen similar complaints leveled against it over workers’ rights issues, a staunch anti-whistleblower culture, and multiple allegations of sexual harassment — all of which are continually swept under the rug and not particularly mainstream knowledge.
Amazon Union President Christian Smalls tweeted his understanding of the ongoing work-around at Tesla. Trade unions have become an integral part of working life in many countries, particularly in Australia, the United Kingdom, the entire euro area and Canada. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said in the countries where Tesla operates, particularly the United States.
Tesla has previously fired workers illegally due to threats to unionize and join auto unions, prompting Musk to save face and offer one employee his job back with back pay. Great job, Elon. Similar union efforts in the United States saw Starbucks workers successfully unionize following a guerilla campaign involving a famous internet cat endorsing them.
As the world becomes more and more globalized and labor becomes cheaper, inflation rises but wages remain stagnant, it’s no wonder unionization works. Standing with your peers to demand better treatment, especially in a dangerous field like automation, makes a lot of sense.
Tesla’s list of controversies, particularly surrounding workers, is not a small one. Musk tweeted in March 2022 that he had no qualms with workers unionizing and said the company won’t stand in their way, but given that Tesla has sabotaged previous attempts to get workers to unionize, we’ll have to wait and see.
It seems that wherever Musk goes, employees tend to feel disenfranchised or ignored. In his first few weeks at the helm of Twitter, he fired an employee for correcting him on a rather blatant lie. Following her lockout of employees from Twitter headquarters, you can see why she has such a negative perception of unions.