Tesla workers to receive raise as unionization effort intensifies

Tesla production workers will be getting a raise soon, just as the United Auto Workers union ramps up its efforts to unionize Tesla shops. 

According to reporting from Bloomberg, a flyer posted in Tesla’s Fremont, California plant said that “material handlers, production associates and quality inspectors” will receive a “market adjustment pay increase.”

News of the pay increase comes just weeks after Telsa announced a pay hike for members of the Nevada Gigafactory. It’s not clear whether the Fremont raises will mirror those given to Nevada workers. 

Tesla’s raises follow a wave of pay increases from across the non-unionized automotive industry. After the UAW secured massive pay increases from the Detroit automakers, non-union companies soon rolled out their own pay hikes. 

Those increases pale in comparison to those won by UAW, however, which secured 25% raises for their members late last year. 

Tesla is particularly vulnerable to unionization efforts, because it is dealing with a labor revolt across the Atlantic. After the company refused to bargain with its unionized mechanics, nearly the whole of Scandinavia united to pressure Tesla to sign a collective agreement. 

But their efforts have thus far failed to impress CEO Elon Musk, who has been outspoken in his disdain for unions. He said, in the aftermath of last year’s automotive strike, that unions create a “lords and peasants” mentality that he doesn’t want to import to Tesla.