Tesla Autopilot workers try to unionize, are “tired of being treated like robots”
Enlarge / Tesla Supercharger at a gas station in Katowice, Poland, on October 9, 2021. (credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto )
Tesla Autopilot workers in Buffalo, New York, today launched a unionization campaign that, if successful, would create the first union at Elon Musk's electric carmaker. Bloomberg reported on the union drive after speaking to several Tesla workers at the Buffalo facility:
Workers at the plant told Bloomberg News that Tesla monitors keystrokes to track how long employees spend per task and how much of the day they spend actively working. This leads some to avoid taking bathroom breaks, six employees said.
"People are tired of being treated like robots," said Al Celli, a member of the union's organizing committee.
The workers want higher pay, better job security, more involvement in workplace decisions, and limits on "monitoring, metrics and production pressure," Bloomberg reported.
"We have such a rush to get things done that I don't know if it's actually being well-thought-out," Celli said. "It's just, 'let's get this out as fast as we can.'"