Internal conflicts - Coffee cups are missing: Dancing and stealing at Tesla in Grünheide
The paragraph has dramatically declined, jobs are being cut and employees are being let go: The crisis of electromobility has the only European plant of Tesla just outside Berlin in a tight grip. Nevertheless, it seems that the plant management and works council, besides being concerned about the future of their - still - around 12,500 employees, have time and space to engage in lengthy self-reflection, presumably stolen mugs and Techno music.
At the end of last month, works leader André Thiering shared a video on social media for the opening of the "Giga Berlin rave cave (aka Hamster)", a Techno club on the factory grounds - exclusively for employees. Thiering described the club on LinkedIn as the "latest installation of Giga Berlin" and added "Party on!". Besides some enthusiastic comments, several users questioned whether this was the right timing for such an announcement, given the recent layoffs.
The layoffs were reportedly the biggest concern of the employees at a recent works meeting, according to a report in the "Handelsblatt". The cause for concern, according to a recording obtained by the economic newspaper, was that many dismissals were being linked to warnings issued for sick leave. At Tesla's factory, employees are required to make an entry in the IT system and notify their supervisor if they are sick, instead of just emailing. Many disputes around sick leave showed that this sick leave procedure was being "misused", said union secretary Jannes Bojert from IG Metall.
Tesla works leadership accuses workforce of stealing coffee mugs
Works leader Thiering reportedly did not address these accusations and the concerns of the workforce during the meeting. Instead, he focused his time on a different topic: "Your expectation is that every day there should just be a full shelf with clean, new coffee mugs", Thiering was quoted as saying in the Mitschnitt. "And I'll just give you a simple number. We have bought 65,000 coffee mugs since the start of production here. 65,000! Statistically, each of you already has five IKEA coffee mugs at home." The theft of coffee mugs was also the reason, Thiering explained further, why there was no cutlery in the break rooms at Tesla. The workforce reacted with clapping and laughter to these accusations against them, according to the report.
Internal conflicts in the works council
The newly elected works council, however, is not only focused on the concerns of the workforce but also spends a significant amount of energy on internal disputes. Works council chair Michaela Schmitz used the meeting to criticize the union representatives in the council: "Unfortunately, we have members in the works council who let themselves be used by the union from the outside." These members were trying to "advocate for union interests" and were preventing "us from achieving good results here". Schmitz pointed to the fact that in Grünheide, significantly fewer than the ten percent of jobs eliminated company-wide were to be cut as a success.
With this, a long-simmering conflict at the Tesla factory continued at the company meeting. In the latest works council election in the spring, the IG Metall list received nearly 40% of the votes, which the union saw as a significant success in the face of strong opposition from the company. However, the majority in the employee representation still lies with non- and explicitly anti-union representatives. Betriebsratschair Schmitz was therefore elected over the "Giga United" list, which was mainly composed of employees and team leaders from management. "We don't need a union," Schmitz had already said during the campaign. Currently, there are only 16 union representatives in the 39-member works council.
Union refers to the Basic Law
Works council member Bojert countered Schmitz's criticism at the meeting in principle. He pointed out that heated debates on issues were part of democracy. The IG Metall is fundamentally "for Tesla," but fights for better working conditions. On the other hand, he criticized the management, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who had stirred up sentiment against the IG Metall during the works council election at the factory. Bojert: "Whoever fights unions is violating the Basic Law, is acting against our constitution. That needs to be said after this election campaign."
This article first appeared on ntv.de
In response to the reported theft of coffee mugs at Tesla's factory, works leader André Thiering accused employees of stealing, citing the high number of mugs purchased since production began. Despite this, the works council meeting focused more on internal disputes and criticism of union representatives, leading to a long-simmering conflict at the factory.
Amidst the crisis in the electromobility industry, Tesla's Green Heath plant has been affected with job cuts, scheduled Techno parties for employees, and concerns about the handling of sick leave. The works council, led by Michaela Schmitz, has faced criticism from union representative Jannes Bojert, who accused non-union representatives of misusing the sick leave procedure and preventing the works council from achieving good results.
