Tesla

‘Teslastoppen’ Elon Musk’s Water War In The Heart Of Europe

April 27, 2024 Aris Dimitrakopoulos, Unicorn Riot. Resist! Elon Musk, Europe, Germany, Occupation, Tesla, Water

“Welcome to the Utopian Gigafactory,” reads a banner hung across a path in a Brandenburg Forest outside Berlin, Germany. At the end of the path, Tesla’s -very real- Gigafactory is visible behind the trees. The banner has been hung by activists of the “Teslastoppen” (Stop Tesla) initiative, who have occupied part of the forest since late February, aiming to prevent Tesla from expanding its only European Gigafactory. The occupation consists of approximately 100 activists, rotating between Berlin and Gruheide, who have set up around a dozen treehouses and platforms suspended with ropes between trees, several meters up in the air.

US TikTok Ban Aims To Weaken China And Protect Tech Monopolies

March 19, 2024 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. Resistance Report Big Tech, China, Congress, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Monopolies, New Cold War, Technology, Tesla

The US government has for years threatened to ban TikTok, one of the most popular social media apps in the country. It’s now looking like this might actually happen. This March, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass legislation called the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act”. This bill states that it “prohibits distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services for a foreign adversary controlled application (e.g., TikTok)”. It passed with an overwhelming majority of 352 votes in favor and just 65 votes against.

Tesla Faces Scandinavian Labor Revolt

December 8, 2023 Elliot Smith, Portside. Resist! Scandinavia, Sweden, Tesla, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Tesla faces a growing revolt in Scandinavia after Danish dockworkers joined a sympathy strike with Swedish mechanics, heaping pressure on the electric vehicle giant to grant collective bargaining rights to employees. Members of Swedish trade union IF Metall have been at loggerheads with Tesla for six weeks, and have garnered support via a secondary strike action from fellow workers across a range of industries in Sweden, including postal workers, painters, dockworkers and electricians. Tesla CEO Elon Musk bemoaned the blockage of license plate deliveries by postal workers as “insane” and late last month filed lawsuits against both the Swedish Transport Agency and the postal service.

Next On UAW’s To-Do List: Adding Members At Nonunion Factories

November 29, 2023 Marick Masters and Raymond Gibney, Jr., Scheer Post. Organize! Auto Workers, Elon Musk, Labor Movement, Tesla, United Auto Workers (UAW), Worker Rights and Jobs

Having negotiated “record contracts” with the Big Three – and seen the bulk of its rank-and-file members approve them – the United Auto Workers says its work isn’t done. The union intends to try once more to persuade the rest of the U.S. auto industry’s workers to join the union. “We’re going to organize like we’ve never organized before,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. As labor scholars who have studied union finances, we believe this is a formidable objective. On top of the intense corporate resistance from the likes of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, there’s the high cost of waging expensive campaigns in states like Tennessee and Alabama, which have “right-to-work” laws designed to discourage labor organizing.

Tesla Union Pressure Increases In Sweden As Dockworkers Escalate Strike

November 18, 2023 Marie Mannes, Portside. Resist! Strikes, Sweden, Tesla, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Dockworkers in Sweden pledged on Friday to refuse to offload Tesla (TSLA.O) cars at any of the country's ports as they expanded their industrial action in sympathy with Tesla workers' demands for collective bargaining agreements. Tesla, co-founded by billionaire Elon Musk, does not manufacture in Sweden, but its electric cars are serviced by more than 120 mechanics affiliated with Swedish union IF Metall, which began a strike on Oct. 27. Dockworkers joined the strike by mechanics on Nov. 7, blocking Sweden's four largest ports to Tesla cars. That was expanded to all ports on Friday at 12 a.m. (1100 GMT)

Tesla: The Cars That Racism Built?

July 9, 2023 Ethan Baron, Black Agenda Report. Resist! Accountability, Racism, Tesla, Worker Rights and Jobs

Complaint after complaint alleging anti-Black racism at Tesla’s factory in Fremont has not stopped such abuse and discrimination, with Black workers segregated into the hardest, most dangerous, lowest-paid jobs and subjected to a barrage of racist treatment, language and images, according to claims in recent court filings and employee interviews. Black workers at the plant — Tesla’s biggest California facility, which employs thousands to build its four electric car models — alleged such abuse often began soon after they started, excited at landing a job at the famed automotive pioneer.

México-Tesla Agreement: Mutually Beneficial Or One-sided?

March 20, 2023 Rubén Sierra, Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Educate! Maquiladoras, Mexico, Tesla, Worker Rights

On March 1, 2023, México’s President Andres Lopéz Obrador confirmed an agreement with Tesla that allows the electric vehicle company to build the “biggest electric vehicle plant in the world.” The plant, or maquiladora, will be located in the border state of Nuevo León within the industrial hub of Monterrey, México.” The plant will specifically be located in the Santa Catarina municipality. The agreement is governed by the United States-México-Canada Agreement (USMCA), previously known as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The México-Tesla partnership was announced just 10 days after the Mexican president issued an executive order which expedited the nationalization of the country’s lithium reserves.

Tesla Workers At Buffalo Plant Launch Union Campaign

February 15, 2023 Matt Glynn, Portside. Organize! Labor Unions, New York (NY), Tesla, Worker Rights

The organizing drive under way at Tesla Inc.’s plant in South Buffalo is putting a spotlight on one of the region’s largest private employers, and drawing more attention to region for its union activity. The campaign, launched by Tesla Workers United, also marks a new push by Workers United, which has supported organizing efforts by workers at area Starbucks stores. Those workers’ election victories have sparked organizing campaigns at stores across the country. If the effort to organize the RiverBend facility succeeds, it would become Tesla’s first unionized workplace. On Tuesday, the campaign was generating national media attention, given the prominence of its CEO, Elon Musk, and the company itself as an electric vehicle maker.

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