A post early Thursday morning on Medium from a Tesla employee alleges that he and his coworkers have endured poor working conditions. The employee, Jose Moran, lists grievances such as “excessive mandatory overtime,” low pay, and frequent injuries sustained at Tesla’s manufacturing facility in Fremont, California.
“Preventable injuries happen often. In addition to long working hours, machinery is often not ergonomically compatible with our bodies,” Moran wrote in his blog post, “There is too much twisting and turning and extra physical movement to do jobs that could be simplified if workers’ input were welcomed. Add a shortage of manpower and a constant push to work faster to meet production goals, and injuries are bound to happen.”
In a series of private twitter messages to Gizmodo, Tesla CEO Elon Musk alleged that Moran is a pro-union agitator working for the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), and that the claims are part of a union scheme.
“Our understanding is that this guy was paid by the UAW to join Tesla and agitate for a union,” said Musk. The chief executive goes on in the DM to claim that Moran is an employee of UAW, not Tesla, working on behalf of the union.
In a statement early Friday morning, the UAW categorically denied ties to Moran, as well as any monetary transaction with him.
“Mr. Moran is not and has not been paid by the UAW,” the union said, “We would hope that Tesla would apologize to their employee.”
In his post, Moran suggests his coworkers share views on the need to unionize, “Many of us have been talking about unionizing, and have reached out to the United Auto Workers for support.” The UAW confirmed in their statement that “Mr. Moran and others at Tesla, have approached the UAW.”
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