Labor Board Dismisses Claim Tesla Fired Workers for Trying to Unionize

Tesla has successfully fended off allegations that it illegally fired dozens of employees who wanted to form a union.

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board dismissed the claims Friday, finding that there was no merit to them, NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado told The Messenger. Tesla, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has denied the accusations and said the employees were fired as part of a routine performance review process.

The Workers United union filed the case against Tesla in February, saying dozens of workers were fired from its Buffalo, New York, facility shortly after announcing a campaign to join Workers United. The workers were in the department overseeing the autopilot feature for the cars.

Workers United said it will ask the NLRB general counsel’s Office of Appeals to reconsider the dismissed allegations, Bloomberg reported.

“I think when the general counsel’s office digs into the case then they’ll see that it’s a clear pattern of retaliation against a unionizing group of workers and clearly a violation of labor law,” Jaz Brisack, the organizing director of Workers United’s New York chapter, told Bloomberg, which first reported the NLRB's decision. “I’m confident that the Tesla workers will finally see the justice that they deserve, and we as a union will have their backs the entire way.”

Tesla, led by the controversial billionaire Elon Musk, has been accused of anti-union and retaliatory behavior in the past. The NLRB found that the automaker illegally fired a union organizer in 2017 at its Fremont, California plant, which has also been the subject of racial discrimination complaints. 

The United Auto Workers is looking to continue its string of victories winning labor contracts with Detroit automakers by unionizing Tesla’s factories. Currently, none of the company’s U.S. facilities are represented by unions, although Tesla is facing a push to organize at its factory outside Berlin and a wave of labor actions in Sweden.

The NLRB on Friday found that two other complaints against Tesla did have merit.

One alleged Tesla encouraged employees to report grievances concerning the union’s attempts to organize employees, while the other claimed that the company's policy on using technology at work was unlawfully broad. The latter is a reference to Tesla's ban on making audio recordings, Workers United attorney Michael Dolce told Bloomberg.

If a settlement is not reached in those matters, the labor board will issue a complaint against Tesla that will be heard by an NLRB administrative law judge, according to Blado.