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Tesla Giga Berlin feels heat from German Union [OP-ED]

(Credit: Henry Hu | X)

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Tesla Giga Berlin is feeling some heat from German union IG Metall after it dismissed a union-affiliated works council member.

However, Tesla’s factory in Grüheide also recently announced permanent employment for hundreds of temporary workers. This employee shuffle occurred weeks after Elon Musk learned about worker absence issues at Tesla Giga Berlin. 

Tesla vs IG Metall

On Monday, October 14, 2024, Tesla Giga Berlin let go of a works council member affiliated with the IG Metall union. The German union claims that Tesla is targeting council members affiliated with it. 

“This dismissal is yet another attempt to intimidate IG Metall workers at the plant,” the union stated. 

According to Reuters, IG Metall claims that Tesla Berlin’s plant management has threatened every IG Metall works council member with dismissal. Tesla Giga Berlin did not reply to queries from the news outlet. 

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Tesla Permanently Hires 500 Temp Workers

A few days before Tesla Giga Berlin dismissed the works council member connected to IG Metall, it permanently employed 500 temporary workers. Local news outlets saw the move as a positive sign for Giga Berlin. 

The 500 temporary workers will have permanent jobs at Tesla Giga Berlin by November 1, 2024. 

“The current decision is an expression of an optimistic assessment of the further development of e-car production in Grünheide,” said Tesla. 

Interestingly enough, works council chairwoman Michaela Schmitz had asked Tesla Berlin management to further reduce temporary workers at the factory. Whether her request was granted in the way she intended is unknown. Tesla had two ways to grant Schmitz request: 1) let go of some temporary workers or 2) hire them permanently, reducing temp workers and increasing the amount of permanent employees. Tesla chose the win-win scenario.

According to Bild, Tesla Giga Berlin claims it has provided 1,000 temp workers with permanent employment, excluding the 500 temp employees that receive permanent status in November 2024. Tesla is estimated to have more than 500 temporary workers as of this writing. 

Tesla Giga Berlin Absences

In late September 2024, news reached Elon Musk that Tesla Giga Berlin management was visiting workers’ homes who had called out sick. Tesla’s actions received backlash, including from IG Metall. 

Giga Berlin’s Manufacturing Director André Thierig explained that Tesla management was making sure workers were not taking advantage of German labor protection laws. According to Thierig, Tesla had identified at least 200 staff members who had not shown up for work all year but were still being paid. 

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After hearing about the news, Elon Musk said he would look into the matter. Given that the recent updates about Tesla Giga Berlin have been about employment, Musk might already be addressing the absence issues at Giga Berlin. 

If you have any tips, contact me at maria@teslarati.com or via X @Writer_0100110.

Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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Tesla 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting: How to watch

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Credit: @YunTaTsai1 | X

The 2025 Tesla Annual Shareholder Meeting from Gigafactory Texas is set to kick off at 4 p.m. EDT, 3 p.m. CDT.

The company will be having its typical presentation for the event, where CEO Elon Musk, along with other executives will discuss things like future products, the outlook of its self-driving development, potential releases for next year, and some current events within the company.

However, this year’s Shareholder Meeting has slightly more implications than others, as Investors and Shareholders have spent the last several months petitioning and supporting one of the proposals on the docket that could be the deciding factor in Musk staying or leaving Tesla.

Elon Musk’s new pay plan ties trillionaire status to Tesla’s $8.5 trillion valuation

Proposal four outlines a new compensation package for Musk that could give him $1 trillion in shares if he is able to complete a variety of lofty goals related to production, self-driving, and other important company projects.

Musk has said that he is truly after more influence on company decisions, especially as the Tesla Optimus program is ramping up and becoming a more relevant part of the company’s story.

The CEO said during the Q3 Earnings Call that he would not feel comfortable developing an “army of robots” if he did not have a comfortable amount of influence in some of the decisions. He could be voted our or out-influenced by what he calls “activist shareholders.”

One of those investors came after his past pay package, which was approved by shareholders not once, but twice. Musk still was not able to obtain the pay because of a Delaware Chancery Court ruling.

Nevertheless, this is one of the last ditch efforts Tesla is making to get Musk the compensation that he wants.

The meeting is set to kick off at 3 p.m. local time in Austin. You can watch it via the livestream on X:

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Tesla Cybercab sightings on public roads are becoming more frequent

After it was unveiled a year ago by Tesla, the company has made some pretty drastic jumps in progress in terms of the Cybercab, but a recent development has truly pushed fans of the company to think it is probably going to be available soon.

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Credit: Petersen Museum

Tesla Cybercab sightings on public roads are becoming much more frequent, and they all are pointing to one thing: imminent production.

The Tesla Cybercab is the company’s vehicle developed for fully autonomous travel, as it will be manufactured without a steering wheel or pedals, according to CEO Elon Musk.

Tesla Robotaxi Cybercab: Seats, price, special features, release date, and more

After it was unveiled a year ago by Tesla, the company has made some pretty drastic jumps in progress in terms of the Cybercab, but a recent development has truly pushed fans of the company to think it is probably going to be available soon.

Last week, we reported on the first Cybercab sighting when the vehicle was finally being tested on public roads. The spotting was not a one-time deal, as we are now seeing many more sightings on public roads:

The first spotting was in Palo Alto, just a few blocks from Tesla’s Engineering Headquarters in Los Altos. This second sighting appears to be relatively close to that first spotting, and it seems unlikely Tesla would be putting it on roads much further than that.

The public on-road testing of the Cybercab marks a major milestone in the entire project for Tesla. These early sightings and testing phases are usually followed by a lot of speculation about when the vehicle could end up in the hands of customers.

However, Tesla has already put a definitive date on when Cybercab production will begin, as Elon Musk said during the Q3 Earnings Call that it would roll off production lines in Q2 of next year.

But the speculation regarding the Cybercab is slightly different than other vehicles because Tesla has been developing it for fully autonomous travel; it’s not meant to be driven by humans but instead by software and the company’s Full Self-Driving suite.

Despite the vehicle being spotted with a steering wheel and pedals in the recent sightings, Musk has maintained that the Cybercab will not be developed with typical controls for a human. He recently confirmed this, and it does not seem the company is willing to veer too much from its plans for an autonomous car.

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Tesla Model Y Performance is rapidly moving toward customer deliveries

New drone images from noted drone operator and Gigafactory Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer show Tesla is moving forward quickly in terms of its progress in producing the new Model Y Performance.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has rapidly progressed in the production of its most anticipated Model Y trim level: the Model Y Performance.

New drone images from noted drone operator and Gigafactory Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer show Tesla is moving forward quickly in terms of its progress in producing the new Model Y Performance.

The vehicle is being spotted more frequently at the factory located just outside of Austin, with what appears to be the first units rolling out to outbound lots:

In the United States, Tesla unveiled the Model Y Performance on September 30, the newest iteration of the fastest trim level of the best-selling car in the world for the past two years. It was launched on the very last day of the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit in the United States.

It featured a handful of performance improvements, including a 0-60 MPH acceleration rate of 3.3 seconds, a trim from the 3.5 seconds the 2025 version offered.

Additionally, the range has gone from 277 miles to 308 miles, a notable improvement in terms of how far it can travel on a charge.

There are also a handful of hardware changes that Tesla made to improve its aerodynamic performance, which all likely can be attributed to the boost in speed and acceleration, as well as range.

The vehicle was initially launched in Europe, which was not surprising, especially as Tesla was testing the new Performance trim at the famed Nurburgring in Germany.

Deliveries are currently slated for late November, but some orders are getting projections of mid-December for their Model Y Performance, which would help Tesla bolster its end-of-year delivery figures and follow up on an extremely bullish finish to Q3, which was the company’s strongest performance in history.

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