I don’t know how things work in Germany but here in Finland we have an government agency which pays salaries if company can’t or won’t as a safeguard for employees. After that they go after the company with pretty beefy lawsuits which eventually say that either the company pays for the salaries and some extra for the trouble or government just seizes and sells enough property that they get what they’re owed. And if company doesn’t have money nor property then it’ll go bankrupt and that’s it. I assume Germany (and most of the other European countries) have similar mechanisms.
And then there’s of course the union too. They can just decide to either stop coming to work altogether or go in a ‘sitting strike’, as in show up but don’t do anything during the day. And they can enforce that, you can’t just hire new people to replace those on strike.
Tesla is overtly hostile towards German unions and has convinced enough workers to not join any. They have mostly hired foreign workers who are unaware of their rights. Additionally, workers are pressured to sign documents withdrawing from their right to compensation during sick leave which isn’t illegal.
Also, the state government of Brandenburg - the location of the Tesla factory - would rather see worker’s rights trampled than Tesla face consequences. Their future election results depend on Tesla performing.
Edit to add: As far as I know, Tesla doesn’t need to pay any damages if courts overrule them denying paid sick leave. They must only pay the sick leave and for the worker’s lawyer. Denying sick leave makes them more money in the end.
or government just seizes and sells enough property that they get what they’re owed
Nice. Can you link a case where that actually happened?
About the unions, I’m actually bound to partake in strikes or similar action. You can’t be part of a union and then wuss out when the going gets tough.
What are you talking about? They have infrastructure in Germany. They can’t just hide on US land.
I get it’s edgy to be defeatist about systems these days, but some countries actually do act and I guarantee you if shit goes down Tesla will be paying up one way or another
Bold of you to assume I’m expressing defeatism. My point is that Tesla can and will fight it. They’ll lose eventually, sure. My hope is that the union has enough money to pay the court costs.
IG Metall is one of the largest unions we have. They have deep pockets. Also, in Germany the losing party automatically pays court fees and their opponent’s lawyers afterwards.
I would worry more about those workers who aren’t union members. It’s possible they’ll still help them out of principle, but they don’t have to.
They don’t need to.
Wage theft is a felony and while primarily will focus on the managing director of Tesla Germany GmbH, there is a good chance they will throw Elon under bus or the DA/Police/customs (especially the later have very far reaching rights in these cases and specialised departments…and now the old secretary of finance who was a trump fan is gone…) finds evidence that it happened under the influence of ELMO or his cronies (which is not that unlikely), there are a lot of people who would be very very happy to issue a warrant on these people.
And that very likely would be an Interpol warrant.
Nevertheless the truly interesting thing is something else: Law enforcement can use this felonies to move in on Tesla - and anything they find due to a search warrant can easily be used for other things. And considering that the state Tesla is located in is suffering from a major draught and tries to prove that Tesla is using far more ground water than they are allowed for ages (and pollutes the rest) that could in theory even mean the downsizing or even the end of the Giga factory.
Christian fucking Lindner, who wanted “more Trump and more Milei” in the end. At least he made his own party so hated that they went from “part of the government” to “no longer in parliament”.
Sounds like a suit for the strong German unions.
I was about to say, this seems pretty slam dunk for them.
Even if the German courts rule in their favor (they should), good luck getting any money out of Tesla.
Good luck with trying to evade payments.
I don’t know how things work in Germany but here in Finland we have an government agency which pays salaries if company can’t or won’t as a safeguard for employees. After that they go after the company with pretty beefy lawsuits which eventually say that either the company pays for the salaries and some extra for the trouble or government just seizes and sells enough property that they get what they’re owed. And if company doesn’t have money nor property then it’ll go bankrupt and that’s it. I assume Germany (and most of the other European countries) have similar mechanisms.
And then there’s of course the union too. They can just decide to either stop coming to work altogether or go in a ‘sitting strike’, as in show up but don’t do anything during the day. And they can enforce that, you can’t just hire new people to replace those on strike.
I always forget that in Europe, the government actually pursues fines and penalties levied against companies. Must be nice.
Most unions have enough reserves to take Tezzla to court for a while.
And in the worst/best case, a judge could impound things for damages/payment.
The union could literally end up owning the factory if Keto EMu keeps doubling down on it.
Tesla is overtly hostile towards German unions and has convinced enough workers to not join any. They have mostly hired foreign workers who are unaware of their rights. Additionally, workers are pressured to sign documents withdrawing from their right to compensation during sick leave which isn’t illegal.
Also, the state government of Brandenburg - the location of the Tesla factory - would rather see worker’s rights trampled than Tesla face consequences. Their future election results depend on Tesla performing.
Edit to add: As far as I know, Tesla doesn’t need to pay any damages if courts overrule them denying paid sick leave. They must only pay the sick leave and for the worker’s lawyer. Denying sick leave makes them more money in the end.
That’s disheartening to hear. At least Tesla has to sell cars to even stick around and it doesn’t look good for them in Europe so far.
Nice. Can you link a case where that actually happened?
About the unions, I’m actually bound to partake in strikes or similar action. You can’t be part of a union and then wuss out when the going gets tough.
What are you talking about? They have infrastructure in Germany. They can’t just hide on US land.
I get it’s edgy to be defeatist about systems these days, but some countries actually do act and I guarantee you if shit goes down Tesla will be paying up one way or another
Bold of you to assume I’m expressing defeatism. My point is that Tesla can and will fight it. They’ll lose eventually, sure. My hope is that the union has enough money to pay the court costs.
The German government given the current environment with musk will likely get involved if it goes there
IG Metall is one of the largest unions we have. They have deep pockets. Also, in Germany the losing party automatically pays court fees and their opponent’s lawyers afterwards.
I would worry more about those workers who aren’t union members. It’s possible they’ll still help them out of principle, but they don’t have to.
They don’t need to. Wage theft is a felony and while primarily will focus on the managing director of Tesla Germany GmbH, there is a good chance they will throw Elon under bus or the DA/Police/customs (especially the later have very far reaching rights in these cases and specialised departments…and now the old secretary of finance who was a trump fan is gone…) finds evidence that it happened under the influence of ELMO or his cronies (which is not that unlikely), there are a lot of people who would be very very happy to issue a warrant on these people. And that very likely would be an Interpol warrant.
Nevertheless the truly interesting thing is something else: Law enforcement can use this felonies to move in on Tesla - and anything they find due to a search warrant can easily be used for other things. And considering that the state Tesla is located in is suffering from a major draught and tries to prove that Tesla is using far more ground water than they are allowed for ages (and pollutes the rest) that could in theory even mean the downsizing or even the end of the Giga factory.
Hehehe.
Remind me please who that was?
Christian fucking Lindner, who wanted “more Trump and more Milei” in the end. At least he made his own party so hated that they went from “part of the government” to “no longer in parliament”.
Oh, of course. 🤦♂️ Thankfully he’s gone now.
“more Musk and more Milei” is the quote.
They can put a lien on the factory if nothing else
I hope they do. Germany should go back to producing Volkswagons, das richtig Nazi Auto.