Elon Musk: "Why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing?" (Creative Commons license)
Americans see a losely tweeting president get himself in trouble some days with his blurts..
Now Tesla CEO Elon Musk is rebuke over a tweet, writes Phoebe Wall Howard of the Detroit Free Press.
The United Auto Workers union has filed legal charges against Tesla, a high-tech automaker based in Fremont, Calif., with the National Labor Relations Board for a tweet Musk fired off at 2:44 a.m. May 21:
"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."
The Free Press obtained the NLRB complaint saying Musk threatened to "take away employee stock options in retaliation for Tesla employees engaging in protected union activity."
Musk’s tweet was “a threat to the workers and a direct violation of the Labor Act,” says UAW President Dennis Williams. “I don’t know what the hell Musk is up to — sometimes I scratch my head. He’s a very bright man, no doubt about it. He’s very creative, no doubt about it. But the comments that he made were so ridiculous the other day. I mean you’ve got to be kidding me.”
Musk also is widely derided on social media. This perspective comes from a former Detroit Free Press business writer now at USA Today:
Story of 2 auto execs
— Nathan Bomey (@NathanBomey) May 24, 2018
1. GM CEO Mary Barra: Congress crushes her on ignition switches, though it wasn't her. She displays resolve and fixes it.
2. Tesla CEO Elon Musk: Facing questions over safety & viability, he lashes out, accuses media of lacking integrity in Twitter tirade.
