The employees of the Shanghai Gigafactory vented on social media. The reason for cutting the bonus was a fatal accident that occurred at the beginning of the year.
In recent days, discontent has exploded among the employees of the Gigafactory of Shanghai, which represents one of the most important factories for Tesla globally.
Employees have in fact launched a sort of social campaign to criticize Tesla’s cuts in bonuses and their salaries, not even sparing criticism of the CEO himself, Elon Musk.
After days of texting and increasingly heated criticism, Musk stepped in and promised to look into reports that workers at the company’s Shanghai factory were being subjected to "unfair" reductions in their performance-related pay .
Two Tesla employees at the Shanghai Gigafactory have reportedly been told by their supervisors about a quarterly bonus payment cut, which is tied to the factory’s performance, Reuters reported. Weighing on the choice of the company would be the management of a fatal accident that occurred earlier this year.
The fact dates back to last February, when a mechanical accident occurred in the welding shop of the company’s Chinese Gigafactory, in which a worker was killed: the local government investigation concluded that an oversight in safety management of Tesla would have contributed indirectly to the accident, but that the deceased worker was directly responsible.
“This is incredibly unfair,” vented user “Er Gou” in a post on the popular Chinese platform Zhihu. “This security incident occurred at the factory. It is not because of the personal [shortcomings] of the workers.”
“Workers should not be penalized with wage deductions due to company liability issues,” wrote another user, who claims to be a regular blue collar worker.
One worker explained to Reuters that the cuts amount to more than 2,000 yuan ($291) a month. The amount is equivalent to just under half of the monthly base salary - about 5,340 yuan or $777 - at the Shanghai facility for junior workers. In addition to the basic salary, workers could benefit from overtime pay and regular performance-related bonuses.
The Shanghai Gigafactory, which began operations in 2019, is the company’s largest automobile manufacturing plant outside the United States, employing approximately 20,000 people. In 2022, Tesla delivered 1.31 million vehicles worldwide, more than half of which came from Shanghai, according to the company’s financial results. This figure has increased by 40% since 2021.
Earlier this month, Tesla announced it would build a large battery plant near its first plant, doubling its investment in China.
Original article published on Money.it Italy 2023-04-20 08:00:00. Original title: Tesla, tagli alle retribuzioni, esplode il malcontento nella Gigafactory di Shanghai
