Tesla's HQ moved from California to Texas. To quote Musk: “Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware. I recommend incorporating in Nevada or Texas if you prefer shareholders to decide matters”.
In other words: even in shitty Delaware courts sometimes rule against companies, which is much more unlikely in Nevada or Texas. At least that's what Musk is thinking...
The German factory in Grünheide is no exception to this, but in Germany there's something which Musk hates especially: powerful unions. The Metal Worker union had to say this about the working condictions in the Tesla factory in Grünheide:
* Our health is more important than Elon earning his next billion.
* Workers are complaining about bad working conditions, too much work load because of short station times, lack of workers and undoable production goals.
* Also the sickness ration is with 30% highly about average, and the number of work accidents as well.
* Workers also complain about not enough safety measures in the factory.
Grünheide even has a Betriebsrat (workers' council) led by the union, which is a specialty by German work law. This Betriebsrat has a certain say in several areas of how the factory is run/business decisions.
Also many workers who started about 3 years ago are already complaining about burn outs due to high work load. The union is powerful despite all of Musks' attempts of union busting so far.
BTW this are the demands of the metal worker union for the German factory:
- The works council must be on the side of the workforce - without any ifs or buts.
- Production can be more humane: longer cycle times, appropriate breaks, an end to understaffing.
- Their free time belongs to the employees: at least 20 days of freely available holiday, predictable weekends.
- Temporary workers take over: Temporary work means constant insecurity. Colleagues must be taken on. Especially when shifts are understaffed everywhere.
- Health protection instead of pressure on the sick: No more wage deductions for illness. Better health protection in all workplaces.
- An end to rope teams - equal opportunities for all: ability and performance, not relationships, must decide who is promoted. Managers must be qualified so that teams function better.
- Safety first - nothing is more important than the safety of colleagues: For 'Tesla speed', too often money is saved on accident protection. This must change.
- No discrimination: Equal opportunities for everyone in the Gigafactory regardless of origin, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation.
- Freedom of expression instead of pressure: Criticism and suggestions for improvement must be taken seriously and must not be suppressed.
- Collective agreement: Higher pay, shorter working hours, more holidays: all of this should be clarified in a legally binding collective agreement between IG Metall and Tesla.
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