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Tesla Giga Berlin employees consider a works council with local union’s support

(Credit: @factorymodes/Twitter)

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Tesla employees at Gigafactory Berlin in Germany will erect a works council, according to a German trade union, which stated workers would have a say in their labor to align with the traditional “democratic work culture” in Germany.

The trade union representing the workers at Gigafactory Berlin is the IG Metall union, which stated that a total of seven Tesla workers had already taken the initial steps to form a works council. IG Metall said the workers are planning to choose an election committee later this month, on November 29th.

Credit: Tesla

“A works council ensures that the interests of the workforce have a voice and weight. That corresponds to the democratic work culture in Germany,” Birgit Dietze, District Manager of IG Metall in Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony, said. “Innovation and flexibility as well as safety, occupational safety, and a strong co-determination are not a contradiction, but the basis for economic success.”

Dietze has familiarity when representing automotive unions through IG Metall. She has worked with company representatives for various German automakers, including Volkswagen AG and Audi, from 2016 to 2018.

IG Metall said that to work effectively with the prospective works council that Tesla Giga Berlin employees want to set up, it will have to determine the emotions and interests of the entire workforce that it will represent. As only seven members of the Giga Berlin workforce have come forward, IG Metall said it “makes sense” not to hold the electoral process for a committee immediately. The trade union said that only one-sixth of Tesla’s total Giga Berlin workforce had been hired. There will be an estimated 12,000 employees at the plant.

IG Metall has an FAQ section of their website set up specifically for the Giga Berlin operation. According to Reuters, IG Metall has told some applicants that Tesla is offering pay that is 20% lower than wages offered by other German automakers.

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Tesla Gigafactory Berlin is set to open within the coming months. However, some German politicians are confident that the plant will begin normal operation by the end of the year.

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla Cybercab tests are going on overdrive with production-ready units

Tesla is ramping its real-world tests of the Cybercab, with multiple sightings of the vehicle being reported across social media this week.

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Credit: @JT59052914/X

Tesla is ramping its real-world tests of the Cybercab, with multiple sightings of the autonomous two-seater being reported across social media this week. Based on videos of the vehicle that have been shared online, it appears that Cybercab tests are underway across multiple states.

Recent Cybercab sightings

Reports of Cybercab tests have ramped this week, with a vehicle that looked like a production-ready prototype being spotted at Apple’s Visitor Center in California. The vehicle in this sighting was interesting as it was equipped with a steering wheel. The vehicle also featured some changes to the design of its brake lights.

The Cybercab was also filmed testing at the Fremont factory’s test track, which also seemed to involve a vehicle that looked production-ready. This also seemed to be the case for a Cybercab that was spotted in Austin, Texas, which happened to be undergoing real-world tests. Overall, these sightings suggest that Cybercab testing is fully underway, and the vehicle is really moving towards production.

Production design all but finalized?

Recently, a near-production-ready Cybercab was showcased at Tesla’s Santana Row showroom in San Jose. The vehicle was equipped with frameless windows, dual windshield wipers, powered butterfly door struts, an extended front splitter, an updated lightbar, new wheel covers, and a license plate bracket. Interior updates include redesigned dash/door panels, refined seats with center cupholders, updated carpet, and what appeared to be improved legroom.

There seems to be a pretty good chance that the Cybercab’s design has been all but finalized, at least considering Elon Musk’s comments at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting. During the event, Musk confirmed that the vehicle will enter production around April 2026, and its production targets will be quite ambitious. 

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Tesla gets a win in Sweden as union withdraws potentially “illegal” blockade

As per recent reports, the Vision union’s planned anti-Tesla action might have been illegal. 

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Andrzej Otrębski, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Swedish union Vision has withdrawn its sympathy blockade against Tesla’s planned service center and showroom in Kalmar. As per recent reports, the Vision union’s planned anti-Tesla action might have been illegal. 

Vision’s decision to pull the blockade

Vision announced the blockade in early December, stating that it was targeting the administrative handling of Tesla’s facility permits in Kalmar municipality. The sympathy measure was expected to start Monday, but was formally withdrawn via documents sent to the Mediation Institute and Kalmar Municipality last week. 

As noted in a Daggers Arbete report, plans for the strike were ultimately pulled after employer group SKR highlighted potential illegality under the Public Employment Act. Vision stressed its continued backing for the Swedish labor model, though Deputy negotiation manager Oskar Pettersson explained that the Vision union and IF Metall made the decision to cancel the planned strike together.

“We will not continue to challenge the regulations,” Petterson said. “The objection was of a technical nature. We made the assessment together with IF Metall that we were not in a position to challenge the legal assessment of whether we could take this particular action against Tesla. Therefore, we chose to revoke the notice itself.”

The SKR’s warning

Petterson also stated that SKR’s technical objection to the Vision union’s planned anti-Tesla strike framed the protest as an unauthorized act. “It was a legal assessment of the situation. Both for us and for IF Metall, it is important to be clear that we stand for the Swedish model. But we should not continue to challenge the regulations and risk getting judgments that lead nowhere in the application of the regulations,” he said. 

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Vision ultimately canceled its planned blockade against Tesla on December 9. With Vision’s withdrawal, few obstacles remain for Tesla’s long-planned Kalmar site. A foreign electrical firm completed work this fall, and Tesla’s Careers page currently lists a full-time service manager position based there, signaling an imminent opening.

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Tesla Semi program Director teases major improvements

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Semi Program Director Dan Priestly teased the major improvements to the all-electric Class 8 truck on Thursday night, following the company’s decision to overhaul the design earlier this year.

Priestley said he drove the Semi on Thursday, and the improvements appear to be welcomed by one of the minds behind the project. “Our customers are going to love it,” he concluded.

The small detail does not seem like much, but it is coming from someone who has been involved in the development of the truck from A to Z. Priestley has been involved in the Semi program since November 2015 and has slowly worked his way through the ranks, and currently stands as the Director of the program.

Tesla Semi undergoes major redesign as dedicated factory preps for deliveries

Tesla made some major changes to the Semi design as it announced at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting that it changed the look and design to welcome improvements in efficiency.

Initially, Tesla adopted the blade-like light bar for the Semi, similar to the one that is present on the Model Y Premium and the Cybertruck.

Additionally, there are some slight aesthetic changes to help with efficiency, including a redesigned bumper with improved aero channels, a smaller wraparound windshield, and a smoother roofline for better aero performance.

All of these changes came as the company’s Semi Factory, which is located on Gigafactory Nevada’s property, was finishing up construction in preparation for initial production phases, as Tesla is planning to ramp up manufacturing next year. CEO Elon Musk has said the Semi has attracted “ridiculous demand.”

The Semi has already gathered many large companies that have signed up to buy units, including Frito-Lay and PepsiCo., which have been helping Tesla test the vehicle in a pilot program to test range, efficiency, and other important metrics that will be a major selling point.

Tesla will be the Semi’s first user, though, and the truck will help solve some of the company’s logistics needs in the coming years.

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