Three workers burned at Tesla plant

[grantcart]

11. Your personal animus has left you with disconnected irrational statements.

1) Tesla pays its workers more than Toyota/General Motors workers. Toyota/GM doesn't have any workers at NUMMI. The fact that you think that it is fair to compare

a) long term employees with entry levels in a start up

and

b) employees with factories that are no longer competitive

shows that you are determined to rearrange facts to meet your personal point of view. Half of the companies I worked for are no longer in business. I don't expect the new tenants to hire back the same employees and I don't expect that in joining a new company that they are going to pay me for the seniority I accumulated at another company.

2) As to this little gem

It's not the location of the plant that determines pay

This is perhaps the most ignorant statement made on direct labor manufacturing costs I have ever seen. The last 5 decades has been all about manufacturers relocating their manufacturing base to places that a) have lower rates and b) states that are anti union - (right to work, etc).

The entire furniture industry moved from Chicago to North Carolina/Tennessee and Mississippi. The car industry moved from Detroit to the South. Go tell the union workers at Boeing that establishing new manufacturing in South Carolina isn't about undermining the cost of direct labor.

3) If you were honest about comparing Tesla it would be comparing entry level average position with entry level average at another California car manufacturer.

4) If Tesla was interested in exploited hourly rates for direct labor they wouldn't be starting a new manufacturing plant in California.

Tesla rates are in line with UAW contracts but they also get lucrative stock options. These options would not be part of a standard UAW contract. It is probably this issue which has caused the workers not to opt for unionization. The UAW has said that Musk has been cooperative:

http://www.1853chairman.com/2013/08/08/uaw-looks-to-organize-tesla/

The UAW has met with Musk, and King says the Tesla founder was “very open and said he would respect what the workers wanted.

. . .

“We’re trying to go back to Elon and say, ?You have credibility with us. You’re doing a great job from many different perspectives. We need you to really intervene so workers have the right to exercise their right to join a union,’” King says at UAW headquarters in Detroit.

. . .

Tesla purchased the plant for $50 million in 2010 and is hiring additional production workers according to its website. Starting pay is estimated at $16 per hour, which is in line with the wages paid new workers at Chrysler, Ford and GM under their current UAW contracts and equal to pay at Nissan and VW plants in the U.S.
Tesla’s website says its workers also are eligible to receive company stock, which has gained 411% during the past 52 weeks.

I am guessing that the UAW is delighted that Musk put the plant in California and not Mexico and hope to build a relationship in the future.

What is clear is that you have joined to DU to wage a personal campaign against Tesla, which is fine. The problem is that you aren't honest with the facts.

You omit that Tesla workers have, for example, stock options in addition to hourly rates that make them paid well in excess of other auto workers. The fact that he located the plant in CA and gives his workers stock options makes it clear that he isn't anti union, a fact that the UAW doesn't dispute.

I don't have time to wade through those that have hidden agendas and twist the facts so I will, only for the 2nd or 3rd time exercise the ignore function so I don't have to wade through your anti Tesla propaganda.

Personally I am delighted that we have an American manufacturer who is assembling cars in CA again and shares the profit potential of the company with his employees.