Union threatens strike at Tesla Giga Berlin after controversial meeting

July 11, 2024

Following a controversial meeting with company management, an influential German union has threatened a possible strike at the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin.

As part of Tesla’s efforts to form a union at the factory, an employee meeting was recently held at Gigafactory Berlin.

A majority of workers at Tesla Gigafactory Berlin voted against IG Metall’s union representatives in their new works council earlier this year, but the union has made significant progress. The powerful union won 16 seats on the works council, more than any other group.

The union cites safety concerns, wage deficiencies and more at the factory.

Tesla, which is notoriously opposed to unionization, has recently pushed back against the plan and promoted initiatives to improve worker morale, including a newly opened gym:

And a new rave cave:

According to DW, the topics of safety, job security and wage issues raised by IG Metall dominated the discussion at the meeting. The recent layoffs were also discussed.

But the moment that made headlines was when plant manager André Thierig took the stage and complained about the disappearance of coffee cups from the plant:

I’ll just give you a number. We’ve bought 65,000 coffee mugs since we started production here. 65,000! Statistically, each of you already has five Ikea coffee mugs at home. I’m really tired of releasing orders to buy more coffee mugs.

This was met with laughter from the crowd, but Thierig said in all seriousness that he would remove the cutlery from the break rooms if things continued like this.

Striking a more serious tone, IG Metall union secretary Jannes Bojert said that a strike was possible given the tensions between workers and management, but only a “last resort”.

The re-elected works council chairwoman Michaela Schmitz believes that the union is causing unrest.

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