BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Tesla Gigafactory in South Buffalo is laying off 14% of its workforce – but how did such a big brand get in this position? And did New York State get a raw deal bringing them to WNY?
Monday, former Tesla employee Jasmine Main shared her story with 7 News. She was stunned to find out she had been laid off just hours before her shift was set to start.
She was one of 285 layoffs in South Buffalo.
Associate Professor at the University at Buffalo School of Management Charles Lindsey explained that Tesla no longer has the corner on the EV market and sales have just gone down over the past few years.
“The growth has been slowing in [sales of electric vehicles],” Lindsey said. “[Tesla] sales are down 13% compared to this time last year.”
The Gigafactory here in South Buffalo opened in 2017 after New York State spent $959 million to construct the high-tech facility.
As part of that deal, Tesla leases the building for $1 a year until 2027 in exchange for keeping at least 1,460 jobs in Buffalo.
State Senator Sean Ryan told 7 News Wednesday night that he had bigger hopes than just adding those jobs.
“The hope would be that it wouldn’t be just the factory, but there would be a ripple effect through WNY,” Ryan said. “Those dreams have largely not come to fruition, and there’s very little solar production going on in Buffalo right now.”
That deal is with Empire State Development, the state agency overseeing Tesla’s adherence to that agreement.
Former executive vice president of the agency John Bacheller retired in 2007, before the deal was made, but he keeps a close eye on his former employer.
Tesla may not have achieved the unwritten goal of sparking a solar boom in Buffalo, but another state representative tells 7 News that Tesla has always achieved what’s written in the contract, and exceeded their job requirements, so to John, that’s a success.
“In the end, they maintained the jobs, in fact they exceeded requirements,” Bacheller said. “It’s a reasonably successful project.”
The factory still employs 1,746 employees, which is 286 jobs above the state mandated requirement.
