At the Choosing a company at Tesla IG Metall missed the majority. The union announced that the IG Metall list had become the second strongest force in the election. According to Tesla information, the Giga United list of current works council leader Michaela Schmitz won the vote.
Christiane Benner, head of the IG Metallsaid that for her this was a respectable result after a “tough and dirty election campaign on the part of employers”. “The resistance, hostility and implicit threats from employers that have characterized this election campaign must be a warning to all of us about how much pressure union work is under,” she said. Jan Otto, district manager of IG Metall in Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony, said that Tesla management had repeatedly tried to influence the election.
Arguments culminated in mutual complaints
Otto said that it “used all means and all channels from company meetings, one-on-one discussions with superiors to the factory radio in the toilets.” The management and Tesla boss Elon Musk ultimately threatened to stop investments if IG Metall won the election. “As a trade unionist, I have never before experienced a management that threatened to use all its power to influence a works council election in such a way,” said Otto.
Thrown in February Tesla accused a union secretary of having recorded a works council meeting. Then it was Advertisement reimbursed. IG Metall, in turn, reported plant manager André Thierig for slander. Both sides later settled their conflict with a court settlement.
This time IG Metall performed worse than in the last vote in 2024. At that time, the union was the largest group. However, the majority of votes went to non-union candidates.