Union charges that Elon Musk violated labor law with tweet

The United Auto Workers is urging the federal labor board to investigate Tesla for a tweet written by its founder Elon Musk regarding his employees’ attempts to unionize.

UAW charged that Tesla violated the National Labor Relations Act when Musk threatened to take away employee stock options if employees unionized, according to the complaint.

“Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?” read Musk’s tweet that the UAW complaint is based on.

Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2018

{mosads}A Tesla spokesman told Bloomberg that the tweet was meant to reflect that UAW members who work at other car manufacturers don’t get stock options or restricted stock units.

Federal law bars companies from taking punitive action against employees who unionize.

In his tweet, Musk also defended Tesla’s safety record, arguing, “Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.”

Investigations by non-profit media outlet Reveal News uncovered higher than average injury rates at Tesla plants compared to other automakers.