Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 161 posts

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#31

Post by Avshalom »

grandalf wrote: post #28

It's important to keep in mind that Tesla (like Walmart, Whole Foods, and Amazon) has been targeted by big labor for infiltration and union formation [1] [2] This is not necessarily because working conditions make workers feel that they would prefer the tradeoffs of unionization, but simply because Tesla is much more competitive without its workforce unionized, and so labor groups that are entrenched in legacy car ma…

Wait wait wait, are you telling me that unions sometimes use their funds to support strikes?

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#32

Post by late2part »

weirdstuff wrote: post #21
dmitrygr wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pro-union workers were among those fired this week. Some believe they were targeted I hate sneakily-worded sentences like this. Also among them, were women, hetrosexuals, and probably one or two Vietnam veterans. Some believe they were targetted.

How's it sneaky? Business management and shareholders routinely try to shut down unionizing all the time throughout the last two centuries. My buddy is a manager at a national retail chain and often comments on how proactively anti-union they are, just like their competitors. Other demographic groups like the ones you pointed out really don't have that same collective effect on the bottom line for shareholders across…

It's sneaky because it's taken out of context.

Yes, pro-union people were targeted. This may or may not be statistically significant. And what is "pro-union?"

If they have 30k employees, and 3% of them are pro-union, and they laid off 1% - what are the odds that some of the folks laid off are pro-union but weren't targeted?

What what are the odds that someone that wasn't targeted assumes they were?

I have no idea what the facts are, but blind assertions like those in the article are foolish.

Imagine reading an article about you that says "Some neighbors felt he was holding more guns than needed and enough ammunition to kill dozens of people." Or they said that your Internet service provider had noticed large bandwidth which is consistent with someone watching perverted pornography.

These are baseless assertions - and therefore shallow.

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#33

Post by late2part »

ShabbosGoy wrote: post #22
jandrese wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or it could just be trimming some fat.

Strange that always happens at the bottom of the org chart instead of the top.

Really?

I don't agree. Average CXO position lasts 3-5 years...

https://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2017/31713/the-average...

Lots of fat trimmed all around.

Kalanick, etc...

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#34

Post by hughw »

grandalf wrote: post #28

It's important to keep in mind that Tesla (like Walmart, Whole Foods, and Amazon) has been targeted by big labor for infiltration and union formation [1] [2] This is not necessarily because working conditions make workers feel that they would prefer the tradeoffs of unionization, but simply because Tesla is much more competitive without its workforce unionized, and so labor groups that are entrenched in legacy car ma…

Ruffians! Heavens!

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#35

Post by [deleted] »

late2part wrote: post #33
ShabbosGoy wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strange that always happens at the bottom of the org chart instead of the top.

Really? I don't agree. Average CXO position lasts 3-5 years... https://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2017/31713/the-average... Lots of fat trimmed all around. Kalanick, etc...

[deleted]

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#36

Post by crazy1van »

weirdstuff wrote: post #21
dmitrygr wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pro-union workers were among those fired this week. Some believe they were targeted I hate sneakily-worded sentences like this. Also among them, were women, hetrosexuals, and probably one or two Vietnam veterans. Some believe they were targetted.

How's it sneaky? Business management and shareholders routinely try to shut down unionizing all the time throughout the last two centuries. My buddy is a manager at a national retail chain and often comments on how proactively anti-union they are, just like their competitors. Other demographic groups like the ones you pointed out really don't have that same collective effect on the bottom line for shareholders across…

If it's not "sneaky", it's at least lazy. "Some believe they were targeted"... Who? Why?

If I said "Some believe we didn't land on the moon", that would be a true statement. But, it's also a way at hinting that we may have really not landed on the moon without offering any evidence or even citing specific people who believe that.

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#38

Post by Molkar »

Paid Tesla actors are gaming the comments.

Hacker News is influential. Votes can easily be gamed. Fake accounts are easy to make and hard to track.

Noise is added to mix good info with misinformation to confuse and frustrate people sifting through comments trying to make sense of things.

These people will make weaker arguments against Tesla's actions so those arguments can be easily discredited. People making stronger arguments against Tesla will be clumped with them.

Trolling increases noise and frustration. It makes people not want to read or post adversarial comments.

Denigrate, dismiss, discredit.

Sort comments by old.

One of the top 3 upvoted comment is usually gamed, because it makes the most lucid argument (it was pre-written; look at timestamp) and is seen as the most solid piece of info amid the noise.

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#39

Post by Molkar »

jws wrote: post #25
ProfessorLayton wrote: post #4

It’s interesing that the company can just decide not to report this as a mass layoff. While the performance reasons for letting someone go may be true, it seems like an easily exploitable loophole. Model 3 production rates were missed by a wide margin, so at least a few people should have known that management would react.

Company's don't get to decide. It is written in law. Check the WARN act, but the key threshold seems to be 500 workers at a single facility. As an employer, getting rid of your worst 1% of workers once a year is just housekeeping.

"Housekeeping" is a funny euphemism for sending hundreds of people into unemployment.

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#40

Post by beager »

grandalf wrote: post #28

It's important to keep in mind that Tesla (like Walmart, Whole Foods, and Amazon) has been targeted by big labor for infiltration and union formation [1] [2] This is not necessarily because working conditions make workers feel that they would prefer the tradeoffs of unionization, but simply because Tesla is much more competitive without its workforce unionized, and so labor groups that are entrenched in legacy car ma…

Could we get a citation for, like, any of this?
Post reply on HN