Tesla workers launch campaign to form union in New York

Feb 14 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) workers in New York state stated on Tuesday they’re launching a campaign to form a union, setting the stage for the most recent labor problem for Chief Executive Elon Musk.

In a letter to the electrical carmaker’s administration, the workers introduced their plan to unionize with Workers United Upstate New York.

The union, if shaped, can be a primary for Tesla, which up till now has managed to keep away from unionization at its U.S. amenities not like different main automakers.

Musk has in the previous been vocal about his opposition to unions and confronted the ire of the U.S. National Labor Relations Board once they directed him to delete a 2018 tweet saying workers would lose their inventory choices in the event that they shaped a union.

“We believe unionizing will give us a voice in our workplace that we feel has been ignored to this point,” the workers stated in a press launch on Tuesday. “We are only asking for a seat in the car that we helped build.”

The letter, first reported by Bloomberg News earlier in the day, cited workers asking Tesla to respect their proper to set up a union and referred to as on the world’s most beneficial automaker to signal the Fair Election Principles.

Employees stated the fitting to set up a union is a basic civil proper and the ideas would stop Tesla from threatening or retaliating towards workers for organizing a union.

“We, as workers, deserve to be able to negotiate fair labor with our employers, and there are many changes I’d love to see at Tesla for the benefit of the workers,” Alexis Hy, an worker with Tesla, stated in an announcement.

Tesla didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark.

Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips

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