Connect with us

News

Tesla pokes holes in Mercury’s story; it’s $55/hr pay rate not $5

The president of Eisenmann Corp has responded to an article last Sunday in the San Jose Mercury about a foreign workers being paid $5 an hour or less. claiming it was not involved in any wrongdoing.

Published

on

Tesla-Supercharger-Hawthorne

Over the weekend, the San Jose Mercury ran a story about a foreign worker who was injured while working on improvements to the paint shop at the Tesla factory in Fremont. The story alleged that some of those workers were paid as little as $5.00 an hour. Not so says Mark West president of Eisenmann the German-based manufacturer of industrial systems that won the contract to build Tesla’s high-volume paint shop

In a letter to Tesla dated May 17, West states that Vuzem the subcontractor who employed the foreign worker agreed to a $55 per hour base rate “for additional services” (and it goes on to reference an attachment). “This rate gave ISM Vuzem full opportunity to pay its workers appropriately,” West says in his letter.

West also says that his company was not involved in any visa violations. The Mercury story alleged that Robert Miller, Eisenman’s purchasing manager in Chicago, told INS in a letter that Lesnik was a “supervisor of electrical and mechanical installation. His assignment will involve multiple border entries but in no way adversely affect the employment of citizens of the United States.” There is clearly a discrepancy between West’s representations and what was reported in the Mercury article.

West goes on to say that Eisenmann requires compliance with all “permits, fees, notices, and compliance with laws” in all its contracts, and that it is “committed tor our employees and business partners to offering fair and appropriate working conditions and salaries.” The letter concludes by saying Eisenmann is revising its procedures relating to how its suppliers deal with labor regulations and obligations, and promises “our comprehensive commitment and cooperation.”

The import of the letter is that Tesla paid Vuzem full value for each employee, including benefits and extras. The open question is whether Vuzem improperly diverted some of those payments to its own account rather than paying them to its employees. In his letter, West claimed “ISM Vuzem has been a long term supplier to Eisenmann. We have been working with ISM Vuzem because of their proven record of consistently excellent work in conjunction with our proprietary equipment. As an experienced and reliable partner on global projects, we engaged ISM Vuzem for the Tesla project.”

Advertisement

After receiving the letter from Eisenmann, Elon Musk tweeted:

There are still discrepancies to be resolved, but it now appears that Tesla Motors did not gain any advantage in this transaction and that if there was wrong doing, it occurred without Tesla’s knowledge or participation.

 

Advertisement
Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla begins Robotaxi certification push in Arizona: report

Tesla seems serious about expanding its Robotaxi service to several states in the coming months.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla has initiated discussions with Arizona transportation regulators to certify its driverless Robotaxi service in the state, as per a recent report from Bloomberg News. The move follows Tesla’s launch of its Robotaxi pilot program in Austin, Texas, as well as CEO Elon Musk’s recent comments about the service’s expansion in the Bay Area.

The Arizona Department of Transportation confirmed to Bloomberg that Tesla has reached out to begin the certification process for autonomous ride-sharing operations in the state. While details remain limited, the outreach suggests that Tesla is serious about expanding its driverless Robotaxi service to several territories in the coming months.

The Arizona development comes as Tesla prepares to expand its service area in Austin this weekend, as per CEO Elon Musk in a post on X. Musk also stated that Tesla is targeting the San Francisco Bay Area as its next major market, with a potential launch “in a month or two,” pending regulatory approvals.

Tesla first launched its autonomous ride-hailing program on June 22 in Austin with a small fleet of Model Y vehicles, accompanied by a Tesla employee in the passenger seat to monitor safety. While still classified as a test, Musk has said the program will expand to about 1,000 vehicles in the coming months. Tesla will later upgrade its Robotaxi fleet with the Cyercab, a two-seater that is designed without a steering wheel.

Sightings of Cybercab castings around the Giga Texas complex suggests that Tesla may be ramping the initial trial production of the self-driving two-seater. Tesla, for its part, has noted in the past that volume production of the Cybercab is expected to start sometime next year.

Advertisement

In California, Tesla has already applied for a transportation charter-party carrier permit from the state’s Public Utilities Commission. The company is reportedly taking a phased approach to operating in California, with the Robotaxi service starting with pre-arranged rides for employees in vehicles with safety drivers.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla sets November 6 date for 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting

The automaker announced the date on Thursday in a Form 8-K.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla has scheduled its 2025 annual shareholder meeting for November 6, addressing investor concerns that the company was nearing a legal deadline to hold the event. 

The automaker announced the date on Thursday in a Form 8-K submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company also listed a new proposal submission deadline of July 31 for items to be included in the proxy statement.

Tesla’s announcement followed calls from a group of 27 shareholders, including the leaders of large public pension funds, which urged Tesla’s board to formally set the meeting date, as noted in a report from The Wall Street Journal

The group noted that under Texas law, where Tesla is now incorporated, companies must hold annual meetings within 13 months of the last one if requested by shareholders. Tesla’s previous annual shareholder meeting was held on June 13, 2024, which placed the July 13 deadline in focus.

Tesla originally stated in its 2024 annual report that it would file its proxy statement by the end of April. However, an amended filing on April 30 indicated that the Board of Directors had not yet finalized a meeting date, at least at the time.

Advertisement

The April filing also confirmed that Tesla’s board had formed a special committee to evaluate certain matters related to CEO Elon Musk’s compensation plan. Musk’s CEO performance award remains at the center of a lengthy legal dispute in Delaware, Tesla’s former state of incorporation.

Due to the aftermath of Musk’s legal dispute about his compensation plan in Delaware, he has not been paid for his work at Tesla for several years. Musk, for his part, has noted that he is more concerned about his voting stake in Tesla than his actual salary.

At last year’s annual meeting, TSLA shareholders voted to reapprove Elon Musk’s compensation plan and ratified Tesla’s decision to relocate its legal domicile from Delaware to Texas.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Grok coming to Tesla vehicles next week “at the latest:” Elon Musk

Grok’s rollout to Tesla vehicles is expected to begin next week at the latest.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla China

Elon Musk announced on Thursday that Grok, the large language model developed by his startup xAI, will soon be available in Tesla vehicles. Grok’s rollout to Tesla vehicles is expected to begin next week at the latest, further deepening the ties between the two Elon Musk-led companies.

Tesla–xAI synergy

Musk confirmed the news on X shortly after livestreaming the release of Grok 4, xAI’s latest large language model. “Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles very soon. Next week at the latest,” Musk wrote in a post on social media platform X.

During the livestream, Musk and several members of the xAI team highlighted several upgrades to Grok 4’s voice capabilities and performance metrics, positioning the LLM as competitive with top-tier models from OpenAI and Google.

The in-vehicle integration of Grok marks a new chapter in Tesla’s AI development. While Tesla has long relied on in-house systems for autonomous driving and energy optimization, Grok’s integration would introduce conversational AI directly into its vehicles’ user experience. This integration could potentially improve customer interaction inside Tesla vehicles.

xAI and Tesla’s collaborative footprint

Grok’s upcoming rollout to Tesla vehicles adds to a growing business relationship between Tesla and xAI. Earlier this year, Tesla disclosed that it generated $198.3 million in revenue from commercial, consulting, and support agreements with xAI, as noted in a report from Bloomberg News. A large portion of that amount, however, came from the sale of Megapack energy storage systems to the artificial intelligence startup.

Advertisement

In July 2023, Musk polled X users about whether Tesla should invest $5 billion in xAI. While no formal investment has been made so far, 68% of poll participants voted yes, and Musk has since stated that the idea would be discussed with Tesla’s board.

Continue Reading

Trending