The allegations at the Tesla site include that a number of workers did not receive proper overtime pay rates of pay and several workers did not receive payment for work performed, according to a redacted filing the Worker's Defense Project made to the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division. There is also ongoing construction on the site as the facility continues to expand. The facility has more 10 million square feet of factory space that includes both vehicle and battery manufacturing. Construction moved swiftly on the project, and the plant was able to start producing cars in late 2021. Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in July 2020 that the Tesla facility, which he calls a gigafactory, would be built in Travis County. "We want to get the word out about this and invite other workers who've experienced similar things, both on this site and elsewhere to come forward," Alexander said. We're just really hoping for a thorough investigation and, hopefully, our workers get justice," Alexander said.Īlexander said the allegations are part of a larger pattern of violations of federal and state, labor and employment laws in the construction industry. "We know that those federal agencies have staff that is capable and ready to investigate anything that comes their way. Hannah Alexander, an Austin staff attorney for the Workers Defense Project, said her group hopes the federal agencies will investigate, find violations have occurred and remedy the situation. More: Elon Musk's Twitter saga is not good for Austin-based Tesla, analysts say The complaints were filed with the federal agencies after the news conference, according to the Workers Defense Project.
Īt the news conference, people held signs in both English and Spanish that included phrases such as "Justice for the workers who built the Tesla gigafactory," "investiga la construccion de la tesla giga factory," "Tesla no es el futuro nuestra comunidad/Tesla is not the future of our community," and "Construction industry thrives on exploiting workers." The nonprofit said there are potentially hundreds more workers who were affected.
As a result, the American-Statesman was not able to reach out to the subcontractors for a response to the allegations.Īt a Tuesday news conference, Workers Defense Project leaders said the allegations come from dozens of workers, some of whom are owed thousands of dollars. The Workers Defense Project did not provide the names of the subcontractors who are accused, pending a Labor Department investigation. The workers have alleged that multiple contractors and subcontractors violated their rights in numerous ways involving wage theft, workplace injuries, OSHA violations and the issuance of fraudulent OSHA certificates for training the workers say they never received. Labor Department and to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is commonly known as OSHA. The organization is referring the complaints to the U.S. The construction workers are being represented by the Workers Defense Project, a nonprofit that supports low-wage workers in employment disputes.
A workers' rights group is alleging contractors and subcontractors violated labor law and employment agreements during the construction of Tesla's $1.1 billion Austin manufacturing facility.
0 kommentar(er)
