Next week, Tesla Germany Employees Will Elect a New Work Council

(CTN News) – This week, the first working council will be elected at Tesla’s plant near Berlin. In this council, the biggest union in Germany, IG Metall, hopes to gain more influence over the company.

Tesla’s Chief Executive Elon Musk paid a visit to the plant this week amid reports that production at the plant has been halted for a week due to a suspected arson attack earlier this month.

There will be 39 seats to fill in the new works council, which is scheduled to be held on March 18-20, according to IG Metall, which has put forward 106 candidates in an attempt to get a majority on the new council.

The union would be able to elect the chairman of the council and to gain greater control over issues such as pay and working conditions, which are areas where the union has taken issue with the American car manufacturer known for its hostility towards unions in the past.

The current head of the plant’s Tesla works council, Michaela Schmitz, told Reuters via email that many improvements have been made in the last two years, including pay raises up to 18%, improvements in occupational health and safety, as well as benefits, including free bike riding and free bus rides, among other things.

According to her, all the aforementioned successes were achieved without the union or a collective bargaining agreement, easily, quickly and tailored to the requirements of Giga Berlin, which meant that there was no need for “external influences in the future” – implying IG Metall as being responsible.

The gigafactory near Berlin, owned by Tesla, was criticized by IG Metall for its insufficient health and safety provisions, which Tesla rejected, saying that workers’ safety is the top priority at the facility.

Additionally, IG Metall raised the salaries for the plant’s 12,500 workers last year, which was welcomed at the time by regional head of IG Metall, Dirk Schulze, even though he still called for better working conditions at the plant.

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