> > “From what I’ve gathered, Elon Musk started Tesla kind of like an app > startup, and didn’t realize that it isn’t just nerds at a computer > desk typing,” said one production worker, one of several who asked not > to be identified by name. > > The nasty little weasel "thinks"...
"It’s incredibly hurtful and I think false for anyone to claim that I don’t care ~Elon Musk, Tesla CEO With links https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/18/tesla-workers-factory-conditions-elon-musk > Tesla factory workers reveal pain, injury and stress: 'Everything > feels like the future but us' > > When Tesla bought a decommissioned car factory in Fremont, California, > Elon Musk transformed the old-fashioned, unionized plant into a > much-vaunted “factory of the future”, where giant robots named after > X-Men shape and fold sheets of metal inside a gleaming white mecca of > advanced manufacturing. > > The appetite for Musk’s electric cars, and his promise to disrupt the > carbon-reliant automobile industry, has helped Tesla’s value exceed > that of both Ford and, briefly, General Motors (GM). But some of the > human workers who share the factory with their robotic counterparts > complain of grueling pressure – which they attribute to Musk’s > aggressive production goals – and sometimes life-changing injuries. > > Ambulances have been called more than 100 times since 2014 for workers > experiencing fainting spells, dizziness, seizures, abnormal breathing > and chest pains, according to incident reports obtained by the > Guardian. Hundreds more were called for injuries and other medical issues. > > In a phone interview about the conditions at the factory, which > employs about 10,000 workers, the Tesla CEO conceded his workers had > been “having a hard time, working long hours, and on hard jobs”, but > said he cared deeply about their health and wellbeing. His company > says its factory safety record has significantly improved over the > last year. > > Musk also said that Tesla should not be compared to major US carmakers > and that its market capitalization, now more than $50bn, is > unwarranted. “I do believe this market cap is higher than we have any > right to deserve,” he said, pointing out his company produces just 1% > of GM’s total output. > > “We’re a money-losing company,” Musk added. “This is not some > situation where, for example, we are just greedy capitalists who > decided to skimp on safety in order to have more profits and dividends > and that kind of thing. It’s just a question of how much money we > lose. And how do we survive? How do we not die and have everyone lose > their jobs?” > Tesla worker Jonathan Galescu says he has seen co-workers collapse or > be taken away by ambulances. > > Musk’s account of the company’s approach differs from that of the 15 > current and former factory workers who told the Guardian of a culture > of long hours under intense pressure, sometimes through pain and > injury, in order to fulfill the CEO’s ambitious production goals. > > “I’ve seen people pass out, hit the floor like a pancake and smash > their face open,” said Jonathan Galescu, a production technician at > Tesla. “They just send us to work around him while he’s still lying on > the floor.” > > He was one of several workers who said they had seen co-workers > collapse or be taken away in ambulances. “We had an associate on my > line, he just kept working, kept working, kept working, next thing you > know – he just fell on the ground,” said Mikey Catura, a worker on the > battery pack line. > > Richard Ortiz, another production worker, spoke admiringly of the > high-tech shop floor. “It’s like you died and went to auto-worker > heaven.” But he added: “Everything feels like the future but us.” > > Tesla sits at the juncture between a tech startup, untethered from the > rules of the old economy, and a manufacturer that needs to produce > physical goods. Nowhere is that contradiction more apparent than at > the Tesla factory, where Musk’s bombastic projection that his company > will make 500,000 cars in 2018 (a 495% increase from 2016) relies as > much on the sweat and muscle of thousands of human workers as it does > on futuristic robots. > > “From what I’ve gathered, Elon Musk started Tesla kind of like an app > startup, and didn’t realize that it isn’t just nerds at a computer > desk typing,” said one production worker, one of several who asked not > to be identified by name. “You really start losing the startup feel > when you have thousands of people doing physical labor.” > > In February, Tesla worker Jose Moran published a blogpost that > detailed allegations of mandatory overtime, high rates of injury and > low wages at the factory, and revealed that workers were seeking to > unionize with the United Auto Workers. > > Moran’s post shone a spotlight on a workforce that is almost entirely > absent from Tesla’s official images of the factory. > > Michael Sanchez once had two dreams: to be an artist and a car service > technician. He said he was “ecstatic” when he was recruited five years > ago to work at Tesla, a company he believed was “part of the future”. > > Now Sanchez has two herniated discs in his neck, is on disability > leave from work, and can no longer grip a pencil without pain. > > Tesla said that the employee’s injury occurred while he was installing > a wheel, but Sanchez said it was caused by the years he spent working > on Tesla’s assembly line. The cars he worked on were suspended above > the line, and his job required looking up and working with his hands > above his head all day. > > “You can make it through Monday,” Sanchez said. “You can make it > through Tuesday. Come Wednesday, you start to feel something. Thursday > is pain. Friday is agonizing. Saturday you’re just making it through > the day.” > > Tesla’s manufacturing practices appear to have been most dangerous in > its earliest years of operations. The company does not dispute that > its recordable incident rate (TRIR), an official measure of injuries > and illnesses that is reported to workplace safety regulators, was > above the industry average between 2013 and 2016. > > Tesla declined to release data over those four years, saying such > information “doesn’t reflect how the factory operates today”. > > The company did release more recent data, which indicates its record > of safety incidents went from slightly above the industry average in > late 2016, to a performance in the first few months of 2017 that was > 32% better than average. The company said that its decision to add a > third shift, introduce a dedicated team of ergonomics experts, and > improvements to the factory’s “safety teams” account for the > significant reduction in incidents since last year. > > Musk said safety was paramount at the company. “It’s incredibly > hurtful, and, I think, false for anyone to claim that I don’t care.” > The CEO said his desk was “in the worst place in the factory, the most > painful place”, in keeping with his management philosophy. “It’s not > some comfortable corner office.” > > In early 2016, he said, he slept on the factory floor in a sleeping > bag “to make it the most painful thing possible”. “I knew people were > having a hard time, working long hours, and on hard jobs. I wanted to > work harder than they did, to put even more hours in,” he said. > “Because that’s what I think a manager should do.” > > He added: “We’re doing this because we believe in a sustainable energy > future, trying to accelerate the advent of clean transport and clean > energy production, not because we think this is a way to get rich.” > > Tesla workers who spoke to the Guardian echoed this sense of pride and > enthusiasm for the company’s mission. “We’re changing the world,” > enthused Ortiz. “I can’t wait for my granddaughter to one day go to > class and say, ‘My grandfather was in there.’” > > But that pride did not erase what Ortiz described as a prevailing mood > of “mass disappointment” over working conditions and what he alleged > were avoidable work-related injuries. > > He recently lost the strength in his right arm, a situation he said > was “scaring” him. “I want to use my arm when I’m retired,” he added. > > Others described repetitive stress injuries they linked to working > long hours. Before the company reduced the average time of a workday > in October 2016, workers said they routinely worked 12-hour shifts, > six days a week. Tesla said the change had been “a success”, and > resulted in a 50% decline in overtime hours. > > Sanchez and other workers said they believed more injuries occurred > because, for years, the company did not take worker safety seriously, > with some managers belittling their complaints and pressuring them to > work through pain. > > When workers told managers about pain, Sanchez said they responded: > “We all hurt. You can’t man up?” Alan Ochoa, another Tesla worker who > is currently on a medical leave with an injury, alleged that superiors > “put the production numbers ahead of the safety and wellbeing of the > employees”. > > The company said that Ochoa and Sanchez are especially outspoken > workers whose views do not represent the wider workforce. However, the > Tesla spokesperson added: “In a factory of more than 10,000 employees, > there will always be isolated incidents that we would like to avoid.” > > Complaints about working conditions at Tesla are not universal. “I’ve > got benefits, I’ve got stocks, I’ve got [paid time off],” said a > worker who has been at the company for about a year. “I thoroughly > enjoy my work and I feel I’m treated fairly.” > > Another worker, a temporary employee, said that he sees some teams in > the factory doing group stretches in the morning to prevent injuries. > > When workers told managers about pain, they responded: 'We all > hurt. You can’t man up?' > > However, some Tesla workers argue the company’s treatment of injured > workers discourages them from reporting their injuries. If workers are > assigned to “light duty” work because of an injury, they are paid a > lower wage as well as supplemental benefits from workers’ compensation > insurance, a practice that Tesla said was in line with other employers > and California law. > > “I went from making $22 an hour to $10 an hour,” said a production > worker, who injured his back twice while working at Tesla. “It kind of > forces people to go back to work.” > > “No one wants to get a pay cut because they’re injured, so everyone > just forces themselves to work through it,” added Adam Suarez, who has > worked at the factory for about three years. > > Tesla said it was determined to further improve its safety standards. > “While some amount of injuries is inevitable, our goal at Tesla is to > have as close to zero injuries as possible and to become the safest > factory in the auto industry worldwide,” the spokesperson said. > > Musk has a well-documented tendency to promise Mars and deliver the > moon. His electric car company was, by his own admission, a gamble. > Musk said starting a car manufacturer from scratch was likely “the > worst way to earn money, honestly”, though he caveated that “maybe > rockets are a bit worse”. He said: “On a risk-adjusted return basis, > an auto company has to be the dumbest thing you could possibly start.” > > The company has succeeded at increasing its production rate every > quarter. In the first three months of 2017, the factory produced more > than 25,000 cars – a Tesla record. To meet Musk’s goal for 2018, they > will have to quintuple that rate. > > “I think one of the major problems is that people at the top are > making unrealistic quarterly goals,” said a worker on the battery pack > line. > > Three workers described a management tactic of assigning a monetary > value to every delay on the assembly line. “One time the robot came > down and [the supervisor] came back screaming at us, ‘That’s $18,000, > $20,000, $30,000, $50,000 because you guys can’t get this done,’” > Gelascu recalled. > > Tesla argues the challenge in building vehicles from scratch with new > production and manufacturing methods should not be underestimated, but > that “nothing is more important” than protecting the health and safety > of its workers. > > “We’re trying to do good for the world and we believe in doing the > right thing,” Musk said. “And that extends to caring about the health > and safety of everyone at the company.” > > It’s a more humanistic tone than the one he strikes with investors. > “You really can’t have people in the production line itself. Otherwise > you’ll automatically drop to people speed,” he told investors in an > earnings call last year. “There’s still a lot of people at the > factory, but what they’re doing is maintaining the machines, upgrading > them, dealing with anomalies. But in the production process itself > there essentially would be no people.” >
