Tesla is enjoying a sport of whodunnit. Somebody—or someones—retains stealing the corporate espresso mugs on the firm’s Gigafactory outdoors of Berlin, Germany, and the administration is not having it anymore.
At a current heated employees assembly the place staff butted heads with administration over current unionization efforts, plant supervisor Andre Thierig instructed staff that he is uninterested in ordering tens of 1000’s of firm espresso mugs just for them to be stolen by staff. And if the thefts do not cease, in line with DW. the corporate will cease offering forks and spoons within the break room.
Tesla’s Laborious Labor Issues
Labor relations with staff in Europe have not precisely been easy for Tesla. From unsafe working situations to union busting, staff and media have made lavish claims in regards to the working setting outdoors of the U.S. Some Tesla staff in Sweden have been on strike since October 2023 over claims of union busting within the nation. Now, Tesla’s German Gigafactory is beneath the watchful eye of the general public after staff and environmentalists have develop into vocal over the plant’s many issues.
“I am simply going to provide you a determine. We have purchased 65,000 espresso mugs since we began manufacturing right here.” stated Andre Thierig, plant supervisor of Giga Berlin. “65,000! Statistically talking, every of you already has 5 Ikea espresso cups at residence.”
Gigafactory Berlin formally opened 840 days in the past on March 22, 2022. If we’re counting, about 77 espresso mugs that stroll out of the door each single day.
As Thierig identified, the variety of lacking cups far outweighs the variety of staff at present working on the plant. Tesla solely employs 12,000 individuals at its Berlin manufacturing unit, which means every worker might have stolen at the very least 5 mugs of their tenure.
“I am actually uninterested in approving orders to purchase extra espresso cups,” stated Thierig.
The supervisor reportedly threatened staff that the corporate would cease offering cutlery, comparable to forks and spoons, within the break room if the thefts didn’t cease.
Labor relations have not precisely been going nice over in Berlin. Not solely does Reuters report that the corporate has 3 times the variety of questions of safety as a close-by Audi plant, however the firm has additionally struck a nerve with staff after shedding greater than 10% of its world employees in current months. Environmentalists have additionally closely scrutinized the corporate, a few of which have radicalized and even set hearth to utility poles outdoors of the corporate to hinder manufacturing.
Native union IG Metall just lately petitioned to unionize and characterize manufacturing unit staff however didn’t safe the bulk vote. IG Metall secretary Jannes Bojert, who represents most of the Tesla staff, stated {that a} strike remains to be attainable if the plant’s situations do not enhance—although it’s a “final resort.”
This is not the primary time that Tesla has been plagued with drama surrounding mugs. In 2017, Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted a photograph of his “favourite mug” that featured artwork of a cheerful farting unicorn. The corporate was then accused of ripping it off by utilizing it on firm vacation playing cards and utilizing an analogous picture to advertise Tesla’s in-car sketchpad app with out the unique artist’s permission.
