Tesla workers speak out: 'Anything pro-union is shut down really fast'
While Tesla CEO Elon Musk has insisted that he remains neutral on unions, several current and past employees have shed details on Tesla’s anti-union working climate, describing it as a “culture of fear.” . The car company has been in the news often for anti-unionization efforts, with employees stating that upper management has always quashed pro-union sentiments quickly, and those who are fired are pushed to sign non-disclosure agreements prior to receiving their last paycheck. One past employee cited the cause of his termination as being two unsatisfactory performance reviews whose ratings had been altered after the fact to give a lower score, although his supervisor’s positive comments remained. Prior to his unionization attempts, the employee’s performance reviews had been highly rated for several years; his supervisor confirmed that the ratings had been lowered. Currently on trial is an NLRB complaint over Musk’s promise in 2017 to fix safety concerns if unionization attempts ceased. Similar charges are currently under consideration by the NLRB, including alleged surveillance and intimidation against workers attempting unionization.
See "Tesla workers speak out: 'Anything pro-union is shut down really fast'", Michael Sainato, The Guardian, September 10, 2018