In the wake of a union push that began to pick up steam this week, Tesla Workers United working with the company’s Autopilot function at Tesla’s Buffalo Gigafactory are claiming that they were fired by the Elon Musk-owned company in retaliation for their unionization efforts.
Bloomberg says that the complaint was made by Tesla Workers United in a filing with the United States National Labor Relations Board. The fledgling union claims that dozens of its members were fired in retaliation by the company for the collective effort to push for better pay and job security.
Tesla Workers United told Gizmodo in an email that over thirty employees were fired on February 15, one day after the union sent its email to management describing the intent to organize. The union also told Gizmodo that Tesla implemented a new policy that forbids employees to record meetings at the company unless all attendees agree. Workers were notified of this policy on Wednesday evening.
“We’re angry. This won’t slow us down. This won’t stop us. They want us to be scared, but I think they just started a stampede. We can do this. But I believe we will do this,” said Sara Costantino, current Tesla employee and organizing committee member, in a press release emailed to Gizmodo.
On Tuesday, Buffalo’s Tesla Workers United formally announced their unionization efforts in a letter to management and CEO/owner Elon Musk. The employees at Buffalo’s Gigafactory work on Tesla’s Autopilot project, and told Bloomberg earlier this week that the company actively tracks keystrokes to gauge how long employees spend on various work tasks, which some employees claim prevents them from taking bathroom breaks.
The Buffalo Gigafactory reportedly has 800 Autopilot analysts that identify objects and images from vehicle cameras, which helps the software recognize obstacles on the road. Pay starts at $19 per hour according to Bloomberg, but the workers feel pressured to work as much and as fast as they can, which they hope the union can curb.
Tesla did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment.
Update February 16 10:30 a.m. EST: This article was updated with additional information from the Tesla Workers United on the amount of employees that were fired and the new policy that forbids the recording of meetings.