Tesla Inc. has been going through a crisis since one of its employees, Jose Moran, took to blogging platform Medium to complain about the brutal working conditions, injuries and stringent overtime policies of the company.
Now, CEO Elon Musk has refuted all such claims and finally broke his silence.
After all the accusations directed toward his company, Musk has given a befitting reply to Moran who brought to light the supposed inhumane conditions at the Tesla factory.
For the unfamiliar, Moran is only one such Tesla employee among many others working at the Freemont, California, assembly facility who demanded that the company get unionized with United Auto Workers (UAW).
Claims By Moran
According to Moran, who has been a part of Tesla for four years, the company has excessive mandatory overtime policies which are quite strenuous for the workers. However, to make ends meet, the workers have no other choice but to work overtime. The San Francisco Bay area, where Tesla's factory is located, is infamous for its high cost of living.
Moran added that Tesla workers earn between $17 and $21 per hour, which is much lower than the usual standard of $29.53, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in December 2016.
There have been numerous reports of lacking safety standards as well in the factory.
"A few months ago, six out of eight people in my work team were out on medical leave at the same time due to various work-related injuries," shared Moran on Medium. "I hear that ergonomics concerns in other departments are even more severe."
He also indicated that most workers were too afraid to speak out about these issues due to fear of repercussions.
According to Moran, many of the employees like him held talks about unionizing and had even gone to the UAW for support. He also revealed that all the workers were forced to sign a confidential agreement which threatened them with dire consequences if they spoke ill about the company.
Musk's Response To Moran's Claims
The Tesla CEO shot back by accusing Moran that he must have been paid by the UAW to say things like these to further its own agenda. He deemed the attacks against the company as morally outrageous.
"There is sometimes mandatory overtime if we are trying to make up for a production stoppage, but it is dropping almost every week," wrote Musk to a publication.
He cleared the air about wages by mentioning that Tesla offered all their employees higher wages and starting pay than the ones unionized by the UAW.
On the other hand, UAW has released a statement denying the allegations made by Musk.
"Mr. Moran is not and has not been paid by the UAW," announced the union after Musk's allegations.
