Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN/Bloomberg) - Tesla workers at the Buffalo facility are presenting a labor challenge for CEO Elon Musk with a reported email sent to Musk early Tuesday seeking to unionize the workforce.
Bloomberg reports Buffalo Tesla workers are 'seeking better pay and job security alongside a reduction in production pressures that they say have been harmful to their health.'
“People are tired of being treated like robots,” Al Celli, a member of the union’s organizing committee, told Bloomberg in the report. Workers claim their tasks are monitored down to the 'keystroke' and it leads to some avoiding bathroom breaks, the report says.
"This is a specific effort by employees working on Tesla's autopilot technology," said Ed Ludlow, a reporter with Bloomberg News. "They are, essentially, data labelers that review the camera generated footage from Tesla vehicles to improve the underlying technology that powers autopilot and down the road, the full self-driving package. There are around 800 of them at the Buffalo facility. These are not manufacturing jobs, they're not assembly line jobs."
Ludlow also mentions these workers are currently being paid $19/hr.
Job security is also another important element in the efforts to unionize.
"I reported back in the summer that here in the Bay Area, for example, when Tesla was making some cutbacks, it was the that team and members of that team based here near Palo Alto that were cut," said Ludlow. "Elon Musk has talked about wanting to automate the process that is currently done manually by that group, so there are some broader issues around job security."
Ludlow also details that this unionization could help Tesla achieve their goals. "Tesla has this stated mission, right to transition the world to sustainable energy. And this group are basically saying by unionizing, we can accelerate that goal, we can be a part of it, because we'll have a better voice in the workplace will have a direct contribution to the goals, the company is set by, as opposed to being a more informally hired hourly role.
Tesla workers nationwide have many several unsuccessful attempts to unionize.
"In 2017, the UAW tried in Fremont, they were not successful. In 2018, the United Steelworkers union tried, they were not successful. Even in March of last year, Elon Musk tweeted, 'I invite the unionization effort to vote this week if they want.' And the conclusion that the market and we as reporters drew at the time was, he was supremely confident that actually, if it ever went to a vote, the union effort would not be successful," said Ludlow.
If successful in unionization efforts, the unionization in Buffalo would be a first for Tesla in an industry where unions are commonplace.
“This is really only a fight to make a good job, better,” said Keenan Lasch, a 6 month Tesla worker. “I believe in Tesla and the goals they are trying to achieve, but believe that the work can be just as innovative as the company itself. We are paid far less than the national average for our job title, and have next to no sick time. We are only asking for a seat in the car that we helped build.”