Tesla CEO Musk asks employees to return to the office, questioned by Germany’s largest auto union – yqqlm

On June 9, Tesla CEO Elon Musk last week required company employees to work 40 hours a week in the office. IG Metall, Germany’s largest auto union, recently questioned Musk’s demands and said it would support German workers who were unwilling to comply with Musk’s demands.

Musk told Tesla executives last week,Go back to the office for at least 40 hours a week or quit immediately.Musk tweeted that the decision would promote equality between Tesla factory workers and executives.

German auto union IG Metall said in a statement that it would support any German worker unwilling to comply with Musk’s demands. According to reports, IG Metall recently opened an office near Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory, representing a total of about 2.3 million workers in German manufacturing, including some Tesla employees.

Birgit Dietze, head of IG Metall Brandenburg-Saxony, said: “Under German law, whoever does not agree to such a one-sided request has the strength of the union behind him.”

In February, Tesla workers selected 19 people to join the company’s labor council a month before construction of the Berlin Gigafactory began. In Germany, unlike trade unions, the Works Council is an organization that can advocate for workers’ rights at the local level. Council representatives are usually elected every two to four years.

In a statement, IG Metall questioned Musk’s rules for returning employees to the office.

“In Germany, employers cannot make rules as they please,” Dietzer said. “If employees are unwilling to accept the company’s demands, they can rely on the strength of the union.”

Musk has spoken out against unionizing Tesla employees in the past. Earlier this year, Musk tweeted a video mocking the UAW.

Workers at Tesla’s U.S. factories sought to unionize in 2017, but faced backlash at the company level. Last year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that Tesla and Musk “unlawfully threatened” workers who wanted to unionize. The NLRB said Tesla “interrogated” employees involved in the operation and ordered Musk to delete a tweet deemed “against unionization.”

Following Musk’s request, some Tesla employees may have begun to seek to sidestep return-to-work orders. Executives at BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen echoed the sentiment last week when recruiters at big tech companies such as Amazon and Microsoft began reaching out to them.

Gunnar Kilian, Volkswagen’s board member responsible for human resources, said: “We have completely different views on creating an attractive work environment. We advocate giving individuals more rights and responsibilities in teams, Strike a balance between mobile and face-to-face work.”