Tesla Workers in Germany Are Threatening to Strike
The workers’ union is claiming that the employees are being paid 30 percent less than the union wage.
Workers at an engineering company recently acquired by Tesla, Grohmann Engineering, could be headed toward a strike, The Wall Street Journal reports.
German union IG Metall is requesting a worker strike for employees at the engineering firm, Tesla Grohmann Advanced Automation, the report said. Tesla acquired the firm in November 2016, and according to the union, the workers have been underpaid by 30 percent since the ownership changed. The union will decide on Tuesday if it wants to move forward with a strike.
"We continue to work directly with Tesla Grohmann employees and are prepared in the event there is an action initiated by the union," a Tesla spokesperson said, according to Business Insider. "We don’t anticipate any impact on the Model 3 timeline."
Tesla is working to increase its production numbers going forward. In 2016, Tesla built 84,000 cars—but with the launch of the Model 3, the electric car maker is working to boost that number to 500,000 cars per year in 2018 and 1 million per annum in 2020. It's unclear if a prolonged strike could affect that, but apparently Tesla doesn't think it would.