Drama: Elon Musk Dares UAW to Hold Union Vote in California

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has invited the United Auto Workers (UAW) to hold a union vote at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. While this may fool you into believing the executive has had a change of heart in regard to unionization, Musk seems to be inviting the labor group into a trap to dunk on his political enemies.

It’s no secret that there’s been bad blood between Tesla and the Biden administration. The White House has repeatedly left the automaker out of its discussions pertaining to industry regulation and proposed additional financial incentives for automakers using unionized labor to build electric vehicles. As the world’s largest purveyor of EVs by far, Musk believes his organization deserves some acknowledgment and has noted that the UAW is one of the Democratic Party’s staunchest allies. He’s asking for the vote in Fremont because he clearly thinks it will fail.

If you want some background for how we got to this point, here is some light reading with the relevant hyperlinks.

The UAW has been hoping to make inroads with Tesla for years and Musk has been openly opposed to the idea. He also butted heads with California and Alameda County over COVID restrictions in 2020, with the CEO telling employees they could do as they pleased but that the company wanted to avoid production stalls. This encouraged Tesla to lay fresh roots in Texas, with Musk suggesting California was becoming too restrictive.

Despite openly describing himself as “socially liberal but fiscally conservative,” Elon has enjoyed what can be favorably described as a combative relationship with the Biden administration. He has frequently criticized the Build Back Better Act, noting that the proposed legislation would give serious advantages to legacy automakers with ties to the UAW. Though he didn’t want Tesla to receive more government incentives. As an alternative, Musk proposed allowing the existing EV tax credit system (which Tesla is now ineligible for) to run its course as he bemoaned Build Back Better as financially irresponsible.

The White House has been less direct by comparison, frequently acting like Tesla doesn’t even exist. It’s sort of a bewildering play when you consider Tesla has the highest valuation of any American automaker and seems wholly aligned with Biden’s pro-EV agenda. But it’s been assumed that Musk’s repeated opposition to having the UAW inside his factories has played a significant factor. So we end up seeing Ford and General Motors executives being called up for talks in the Oval Office and being praised during press events, rather than Tesla.

Bloomberg said as much last month, then it continued the story after Musk issued his dare to the union over social media following the White House’s praising of GM:

Biden has repeatedly left Tesla off the the guest lists and out of the prepared remarks he’s made promoting America’s EV industry. He’s instead praised General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co., which make and sell fewer electric cars but employ tens of thousands of UAW workers. Bloomberg News reported last month that the president’s antipathy toward Tesla mainly has to do with Musk’s hostility toward unions.

The National Labor Relations Board ruled last year that Tesla had repeatedly violated U.S. labor law, including by firing a union activist, and needed to make Musk delete a May 2018 tweet that suggested workers would give up company-paid stock if they chose to unionize. Tesla appealed and has argued Musk’s tweet was protected by the First Amendment.

On Monday, Elon had responded to Joe Biden’s social media — addressing it to the “person controlling this twitter” — stating that Tesla had created over 50,000 U.S. jobs while building more EVs than GM and Ford combined. This was quickly met with supportive criticism from Gene Simmons of KISS fame, who accused the Biden admin of snubbing Tesla for its anti-union stance. Further backed by Tesla owners sharing stories about UAW corruption, the fact that Ford builds the Mach-E in Mexico, and claims that Fremont workers received the highest compensation in the country, Musk came back suggesting they might as well hold a vote to see what happens.

“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! I’d like hereby to invite UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience,” he said. “Tesla will do nothing to stop them.”

This is petty drama, to be sure. But it’s interesting how often that ends up influencing the industry and its ongoing relationship with the government.

[Image: Naresh111/Shutterstock]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • ToolGuy ToolGuy on Mar 03, 2022

    Unions are one reason Biden is not a huge fan of Musk. Dealerships are another reason. (Think about it.)

    • Jeff S Jeff S on Mar 04, 2022

      You could be right. Neither am I or a lot of others. Didn't Biden's father own a Chevy dealership in Delaware? As I stated above Biden is far from perfect.

  • Lou_BC Lou_BC on Mar 04, 2022

    Rump "outed" a spy in the Kremlin close to Putin. That spy would have been handy now.

    • See 8 previous
    • FreedMike FreedMike on Mar 07, 2022

      @Jeff S "In fact, Trump was the only American president in the 21st century to NOT start a war on behalf of the United States. " I guess declaring war on the peaceful transition of power in his own country doesn't count. Right? But I digress. Thank God Trump didn't start any wars. This is the guy who said this weekend that we should paint F22s in Chinese livery, and have them bomb Russia (oh, I forgot, that was locker room talk...har har). The same guy who said that Lysol should be investigated as a COVID cure. The same guy who sharpied-up a hurricane map. The same guy who tried to pressure the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt on his political opponents by withholding military aid (gee, think Putin was reading about THAT little episode?). And on and on. If he f**ked up with the war the same way he f**ked up all the other things he dropped the ball on, God help our troops.

  • The Oracle Well, we’re 3-4 years in with the Telluride and right around the time the long term durability issues start to really take hold. This is sad.
  • CoastieLenn No idea why, but nothing about a 4Runner excites me post-2004. To me, they're peak "try-hard", even above the Wrangler and Gladiator.
  • AZFelix A well earned anniversary.Can they also attend to the Mach-E?
  • Jalop1991 The intermediate shaft and right front driveshaft may not be fully engaged due to suspected improper assembly by the supplier. Over time, partial engagement can cause damage to the intermediate shaft splines. Damaged shaft splines may result in unintended vehicle movement while in Park if the parking brake is not engagedGee, my Chrysler van automatically engages the parking brake when we put it in Park. Do you mean to tell me that the idjits at Kia, and the idjit buyers, couldn't figure out wanting this in THEIR MOST EXPENSIVE VEHICLE????
  • Dukeisduke I've been waiting to see if they were going to do something special for the 60th Anniversary. I was four years old when the Mustang was introduced. I can remember that one of our neighbors bought a '65 coupe (they were all titled as '65 models, even the '64-1/2 cars), and it's the first one I can remember seeing. In the '90s I knew an older gentleman that owned a '64-1/2 model coupe with the 260 V8.
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