BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Employees at Tesla's Gigafactory in Buffalo have announced a committee has been formed "in the interest of organizing our coworkers."
According to Tesla Workers United, it has partnered with Workers United Rochester Regional Joint Board in its effort.
"We believe unionizing will give us a voice in our workplace that we feel has been ignored to this point. We hope to gain mutual respect and look forward to healthy communication and cooperation with our corporate management as we transition to this new phase of our time with Tesla."
SPoT Coffe, Starbucks, Lexington Co-Op and Remedy House workers have previously announced unionization efforts in partnership with Workers United Rochester Regional Joint Board.
A release includes statements from several employees and calls on Tesla to sign the "Fair Election Principles" it has proposed which you can find below:
- The right to organize a union is a fundamental civil right essential to democracy.
- If Tesla workers choose to unionize, there will be no negative repercussions from management.
- Tesla agrees not to make any implicit threats (lawful but unethical) or explicit threats (unlawful).
- If Tesla holds a meeting with workers on company time to discuss unionization, then Tesla Workers United may hold a meeting of equal length on company time. This holds true for one-on-one meetings or any discussions that Tesla chooses to hold with workers during the union organizing effort. If Tesla posts any anti-union material on its premises, it will provide Tesla Workers United equal space to post pro-union material.
- Tesla management must not bribe or threaten workers with changes to wages or benefits to gain support.
- Principled disagreements are part of the campaign process, but disparaging remarks about Workers United or the labor movement are not appropriate and not conducive to a spirit of mutual respect and harmony, and should not be made. Additionally, ad hominem attacks against individuals are unacceptable.
- If any worker feels they have been retaliated against in any manner or terminated due to their union activity, Tesla will agree to resolve this immediately by a mutually agreed-upon arbitrator. The worker would still have the right to go to the National Labor Relations Board.
- Management will disavow messages from any third party that imply that choosing a union will jeopardize jobs or negatively impact Tesla workers.
- Tesla will either stipulate to an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board on the quickest time frame the Board allows, or agree to voluntarily recognize the union based on a majority of signed union authorization cards.
- These are voluntary principles of conduct and, once signed, reflect the company and union's shared desire for a creative and innovative labor-management relationship. If a party believes that any of the principles contained in this document has been violated, then before taking any public or legal action, they will notify the other party in writing and meet within 48 hours to resolve the issues raised and negotiate a resolution in good faith.
- Negotiations: If workers choose to unionize, the shared goal of Tesla and Tesla Workers United will be a union contract that takes into account the company's need to remain competitive and to grow; the dignity, respect, and value of every worker; and the importance and value of full employee engagement and creative problem-solving. The company and the union commit to information sharing (as required by the National Labor Relations Act) and joint creative problem-solving. The workers will vote on whether to accept the agreement. If no agreement is reached within six (6) months of recognition, the parties may mutually agree to a mediation and/or interest arbitration to resolve any outstanding issues.
- Partnership in the mission of the employer: The union pledges that if the workers choose union representation, the union will be committed to Tesla's success and will work in partnership with Tesla to fulfill the mission of the employer. The union embraces a participatory culture where the union contributes to continual improvement of processes and shared responsibility for quality, innovation, and value.
7 News attempted to contact Tesla for comment, but only an email address was available and the following message was received "the recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept messages now. Please try resending your message later, or contact the recipient directly."
In December 2018 Tesla employees launched an organizing drive with unions from across the U.S.
