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Tesla factory workers pushing for a union send demands to Tesla's Board

businessinsider.com

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Re: Tesla factory workers pushing for a union send demands to Tesla's Board

#11

Post by skybrian »

Kenji wrote: post #7

The committee also calls on Tesla to release clear policies on how Fremont factory workers can get promoted, adding that "there are no guidelines for what is expected of us, or what defines success." Uh, what? Do they expect a checklist with items like "be there for 9 hours a day" and so on? Frankly, people who need such a list are not the ones who deserve a promotion - those who do deserve it just work away at the p…

For software engineers it would be something vaguer like showing that you've succeeded on a project with sufficient complexity. But I don't know what the equivalent would be for factory workers.

Re: Tesla factory workers pushing for a union send demands to Tesla's Board

#13

Post by [deleted] »

evolve2k wrote: post #3

This news is unsavory for many of us as it breaks the bubble. In no world is it realistic that each employee report safety issues directly to the CEO. That comment when heard by internal staff actually says the opposite, report it to me and you risk your job. [edit: I love Musk and all his visionary work. Consider it this way, think of Musks usual week and how much he's up to, now imagine on a day he's announcing a n…

[deleted]

Re: Tesla factory workers pushing for a union send demands to Tesla's Board

#15

Post by evolve2k »

skybrian wrote: post #9
evolve2k wrote: post #3

This news is unsavory for many of us as it breaks the bubble. In no world is it realistic that each employee report safety issues directly to the CEO. That comment when heard by internal staff actually says the opposite, report it to me and you risk your job. [edit: I love Musk and all his visionary work. Consider it this way, think of Musks usual week and how much he's up to, now imagine on a day he's announcing a n…

You might want to read the linked article, because that's not what it says: http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-factory-injur... "Musk then said he wants direct reports about every injury, without exception, going forward. He also plans to spend time on the assembly line."

Ok yes, on re-reading I think this article is talking bullshit. The sentence does read "but has since told employees to report injuries directly to him", but the linked article behind the article then explains that he wants all injuries reported to him. Subtly different, dirty journalism. I think my point on us living in a "Musk can't do wrong bubble stands" but on this occasion it seems shoddy reporting should mean we can't make a strong comment on what he should be doing here.

Re: Tesla factory workers pushing for a union send demands to Tesla's Board

#16

Post by PhasmaFelis »

yohann305 wrote: post #8

This is important, we need to keep watching this closely because it might deter future big companies to manufacture in the USA. Think about Apple. This is one more thing to worry about on top of higher salaries than China.

This just seems like appeasement.

Giving companies permission to abuse workers for fear that they'll go offshore seems like a good way to reduce global labor standards to the lowest common denominator.

Re: Tesla factory workers pushing for a union send demands to Tesla's Board

#17

Post by mtl_usr »

Now seems like the perfect timing to do such a thing considering the Model 3 is entering production, and a lot of customers are going to give Tesla a very bad reputation if they can't get their Model 3 on time.

Of course, this will only give incentives to the company to further automate it's production facilities, at the expanse of the workers.

Re: Tesla factory workers pushing for a union send demands to Tesla's Board

#18

Post by PhasmaFelis »

lawrenceyan wrote: post #2

It seems like with any company that has a huge divide in terms of knowledge/skill/salaried jobs, i.e. Tesla engineers vs. factory workers or Lyft developers vs. drivers, there will always be a bias towards the smaller elite core. I wonder how this will play out in the future as class divides between high skilled versus low skilled workers become more and more ever present within the oncoming wave of mass automation.

Yeah. Amazon's treatment of its warehouse staff is famously awful.

Re: Tesla factory workers pushing for a union send demands to Tesla's Board

#19

Post by komali2 »

Daishiman wrote: post #10
yohann305 wrote: post #8

This is important, we need to keep watching this closely because it might deter future big companies to manufacture in the USA. Think about Apple. This is one more thing to worry about on top of higher salaries than China.

Germany's manufacturing companies have massive union presence in everything they do and they're some of the most successful in the planet. Let's stop with this ridiculous demonization of unions. American corporations have chosen a confrontational model with unions and staff. It doesn't have to be this way. There are better models around if the owners of capital are willing to cooperate with workers.

I feel like this is a dirty part of our culture and legal system - it almost seems like boards are legally obligated to seek as much profit as possible, even if at the expense of workers. This includes exploring ways to lobby to change laws, exploring breaking the law if that is more profitable than not doing so (i.e. paying fines instead of meeting emission standards), etc.

I feel like if in today's America a CEO of a major investment bank was replaced with an AI that was given US law and history as a boundary set, and "maximize profit" as a goal... well I dunno, but I think it would be messy.

Re: Tesla factory workers pushing for a union send demands to Tesla's Board

#20

Post by inetknght »

Kenji wrote: post #7

The committee also calls on Tesla to release clear policies on how Fremont factory workers can get promoted, adding that "there are no guidelines for what is expected of us, or what defines success." Uh, what? Do they expect a checklist with items like "be there for 9 hours a day" and so on? Frankly, people who need such a list are not the ones who deserve a promotion - those who do deserve it just work away at the p…

Yes and no. If you're a factory worker you aren't often given a lot of room (or, especially, time) to try to innovate. You have a task, you need to complete that task, and you need to get it done using a specific method. Any other method could break legal requirements, require recertification, et al.
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