Photo: @JoeTegtmeyer/Twitter
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently gave a personal tour of Giga Texas to US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, who was amazed by the factory. They discussed the economy, production, and the creation of trade unions at Tesla factories.
Tesla creates tens of thousands of jobs in the US, so it deserves special attention. In mid-March, Tesla CEO Elon Musk hosted US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh at the manufacturer's new Texas plant. The Giga Texas building is almost complete and the Model Y workshops are ready to go. On April 7, the grand opening of the factory will mark the start of mass production of Texas-made vehicles.
According to previously published information, the conversation lasted about 75 minutes and touched on a variety of topics. The main issues raised at the meeting were inflation in the country, innovation in the US, and job creation in Texas. On Friday, Walsh was interviewed by Yahoo! Finance Live and spoke in more detail about the conversation with Musk and his impressions of Giga Texas.
“It's an amazing facility there, 10 million square feet. It's one of the biggest buildings I have seen. It's challenging though, he built it on basically a landfill. We talked about that. We talked the culture of how he thinks about a company "We talked about a lot of different issues. I was focused on the medical side of his company as well. About the research he is doing on helping people that have been in accidents,” Walsh said.
He emphasized that he had a good conversation with Musk, during which, among other things, he discussed workers' unions. “We talked about the economy and manufacturing. We talked about a bunch of things. I did ask the question about unionization. He certainly said he is not opposed to it. He said if the workers were interested, he would love to have the conversations,” Walsh said.
Musk has a pretty clear stance on unions. He does not see them as a positive for the workers. Another scandal around the UAW emphasized the correctness of the head of Tesla. Former secretary-treasurer of UAW Local 412 in Detroit, Timothy Edmunds, pleaded guilty to embezzlement of union funds and money laundering. This is not the first time UAW officials have been caught doing this. Musk commented on the case, stressing that while the UAW is embezzling millions of dollars from workers, Tesla is making its employees millionaires. “The UAW stole millions from workers, whereas Tesla has made many workers millionaires (via stock grants). Subtle, but important difference,” Musk tweeted.
The UAW stole millions from workers, whereas Tesla has made many workers millionaires (via stock grants). Subtle, but important difference.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 29, 2022
Creating exceptional working conditions, Tesla is one of the most desirable places to work around the world. Working for a manufacturer, each employee gets an equal chance to develop, show initiative, climb the career ladder and grow rich with the company. That is why Musk is not worried and is even ready to hold a union vote. “I'd like hereby to invite the UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience. Tesla will do nothing to stop them,” Musk tweeted.
Our real challenge is Bay Area has negative unemployment, so if we don’t treat and compensate our (awesome) people well, they have many other offers and will just leave!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2022
I’d like hereby to invite UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience. Tesla will do nothing to stop them.
© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.
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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
