DETROIT - In a sweeping decision issued today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found Tesla to have violated the law and ordered it to cease interfering with workers seeking to organize a union at its Fremont, California plant.
The NLRB found that Tesla illegally terminated a union supporter, disciplined another union supporter for engaging in protected activity, and interrogated others for speaking out about workplace injuries. The company was ordered to stop interfering in employees' rights to communicate with fellow employees about their campaign to form a union with the UAW and must rescind several illegal policies meant to obstruct employees' organizing activities.
The Board's decision comes three and a half years after production associate Richard Ortiz was fired and other union supporters were threatened and disciplined. Tesla incurred no financial penalty for its conduct. It must post a notice of its violations, as well as the policy changes it is ordered to make, and reinstate Mr. Ortiz with backpay.
“This is a great victory for workers who have the courage to stand up and organize in a system that is currently stacked heavily in favor of employers like Tesla who have no qualms about violating the law,” said UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada, Director of the UAW Organizing Department. “While we celebrate the justice in today’s ruling, it nevertheless highlights the substantial flaws in US labor law. Here is a company that clearly broke the law and yet it is three years down the road before these workers achieved a modicum of justice.”
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