New York Tesla (TSLA) employees announce campaign to form union

Tesla (NASDAQ; TSLA) employees in upstate New York announced in a letter to management early Tuesday that the group plans to launch a campaign to form a union. The union, if formed, would be a first for Tesla, which up until now has managed to avoid unionization at its U.S. facilities unlike other major automakers.

"We believe unionizing will give us a voice in our workplace that we feel has been ignored to this point," the workers said in a press release on Tuesday. "We are only asking for a seat in the car that we helped build."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously spoken out against unions and in 2018 was ordered by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board to delete a tweet saying employees would lose their stock options if they formed a union.

The letter cites employees asking Tesla to respect their right to organize a union and called on the world's most valuable automaker to sign the Fair Election Principles.

"We, as workers, deserve to be able to negotiate fair labor with our employers, and there are many changes I'd love to see at Tesla for the benefit of the workers," Alexis Hy, an employee with Tesla, said in a statement.

Shares of TSLA are up 4.62% in afternoon trading on Tuesday.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]

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