Tesla is taking part in a sport of whodunnit. Somebody—or someones—retains stealing the corporate espresso mugs on the firm’s Gigafactory exterior of Berlin, Germany, and the administration is not having it anymore.
At a current heated employees assembly the place workers butted heads with administration over current unionization efforts, plant supervisor Andre Thierig advised workers that he is bored with ordering tens of 1000’s of firm espresso mugs just for them to be stolen by workers. 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 workers in Europe have not precisely been clean for Tesla. From unsafe working circumstances to union busting, workers and media have made lavish claims in regards to the working surroundings exterior of the U.S. Some Tesla workers in Sweden have been on strike since October 2023 over claims of union busting within the nation. Now, Tesla’s German Gigafactory is underneath the watchful eye of the general public after workers and environmentalists have change into vocal over the plant’s many issues.
“I am simply going to offer you a determine. We have purchased 65,000 espresso mugs since we began manufacturing right here.” mentioned Andre Thierig, plant supervisor of Giga Berlin. “65,000! Statistically talking, every of you already has 5 Ikea espresso cups at dwelling.”
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 workers at present working on the plant. Tesla solely employs 12,000 individuals at its Berlin manufacturing facility, which means every worker may have stolen at the least 5 mugs of their tenure.
“I am actually bored with approving orders to purchase extra espresso cups,” mentioned Thierig.
The supervisor reportedly threatened workers that the corporate would cease offering cutlery, similar 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 issues of safety as a close-by Audi plant, however the firm has additionally struck a nerve with workers 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 fireplace to utility poles exterior of the corporate to hinder manufacturing.
Native union IG Metall not too long ago petitioned to unionize and symbolize manufacturing facility workers however did not safe the bulk vote. IG Metall secretary Jannes Bojert, who represents lots of the Tesla staff, mentioned {that a} strike remains to be doable if the plant’s circumstances 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 identical picture to advertise Tesla’s in-car sketchpad app with out the unique artist’s permission.
