GRÜNHEIDE, Germany – Voting concluded Wednesday at Tesla’s Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg as employees elected a new works council in an election shadowed by accusations of anti-union tactics and legal disputes. Results are expected later today, with the outcome potentially shifting the balance of power between management and labor at the U.S. Automaker’s sole European production facility.
The election follows a campaign marked by contention, with Germany’s influential industrial union, IG Metall, seeking to expand its influence at the plant. The current works council is largely comprised of independent members not affiliated with the union. IG Metall fielded 116 candidates, aiming to secure a simple majority – 19 of the 37 seats – a step up from the 16 seats it held in the previous election two years ago, when the council comprised 39 seats.
IG Metall has publicly accused Tesla management of attempting to discourage union membership and influence the election’s outcome. Laura Arndt, IG Metall’s lead candidate, stated the union was “very satisfied with our election campaign” and that their “issues are clearly striking a chord with our colleagues.”
Tesla Plant Director André Thierig has countered these claims, asserting that the union’s primary focus is increasing its membership numbers. The dispute escalated in February when Tesla filed a criminal complaint alleging that an IG Metall trade unionist secretly filmed a works council meeting. IG Metall dismissed the accusation as a “calculated lie.”
Works councils are a legally mandated component of German labor relations, providing a platform for employee representation in negotiations with management. While IG Metall holds significant sway over works councils at established German automakers like Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, it has struggled to gain a similar foothold at Tesla, where CEO Elon Musk has consistently voiced his opposition to unions.
In the lead-up to the election, Musk reportedly warned employees in a video message that expanding the factory and improving conditions could be jeopardized by increased union influence, according to reports in the Handelsblatt newspaper. Christiane Benner, First Chairwoman of IG Metall, responded by urging workers not to be “intimidated or divided” by Musk’s statements, emphasizing the union’s support for Tesla employees.
The outcome of the election will determine the extent to which IG Metall can negotiate on behalf of Tesla’s workforce regarding pay, working conditions, and other key employment issues. Currently, without a collective bargaining agreement – a situation Tesla maintains is a matter for union members to pursue – employees negotiate their terms of employment individually with the company. IG Metall has emphasized that a works council cannot independently negotiate wages or working hours, but a union can.
The IG Metall website, igm-tesla.de, provides information for employees and details on how to contact the union. The union has too filed a complaint with the Frankfurt/Oder labor court seeking an injunction to prevent Thierig from making further “false claims” against an IG Metall employee, and is preparing a lawsuit alleging union-busting tactics.