Chris Smalls taunts Musk, says “disgruntled” employee wants help unionizing

Labor organizer Chris Smalls taunted Elon Musk Monday evening, saying a “disgruntled” Tesla employee reached out to him, seeking help with unionizing.

Smalls tweeted an image showing an email he received from an unidentified individual with the subject line: “Organizing activity at Tesla.” He captioned the picture with a barb aimed at Musk, the Tesla CEO who has made headlines in recent weeks over his purchase of social media giant Twitter.

“Hey @elonmusk I’ve received this email from a disgruntled employee of yours looks like some of your workers want to talk to me about forming a Union,” Smalls tweeted.

Smalls continued: “Let’s see how their freedom of speech will be heard,” a reference to Musk’s stated commitment to “free speech” as head of Twitter. Smalls added that he “for sure” responded to the inquiry.

Smalls did not share more information about the email—including the employee’s gripes with Musk or the manner in which Smalls responded to the request. But Tesla employees potentially forming a union could further pressurize an already difficult year for Musk, who has a contentious history with organized labor.

Musk has long voiced opposition to unions, suggesting Tesla employees do not even want to unionize. The electric vehicle titan has also faced heat over what some said were efforts to stifle criticism of the company and pushes to organize labor.

Last year, the National Labor Relations Board ordered Tesla to remove an “unlawful” tweet from Musk about unions, ruling it “coercively threatened” that employees who unionized would lose their stock options. Musk is appealing.

“Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union,” Musk wrote in the 2018 tweet. “Could do so [tomorrow] if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW [United Auto Workers] & everybody already gets healthcare.”

In March, Musk attacked UAW for stealing “millions from workers.” He also invited it to “hold a union vote at their convenience,” pledging Tesla would do “nothing to stop them.”

UAW President Ray Curry responded to Musk in a March webinar, CNBC reported.

“A key piece out of all of this is not the whim of a tweet or anything else, an exchange between the UAW and Tesla, it’s about the workers in those locations having a voice inside of their workplace. That’s the most important part of this whole process,” Curry said, according to the outlet.

Most recently, many internet users said Musk’s ultimatum against Twitter employees demonstrates the need for unions. His takeover saw the firings of several longtime workers, and many others quit. Musk told his staffers that they would need to turn “very hardcore” to build “Twitter 2.0.”

“This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade,” Musk said in a memo issued this month. The letter drew attention to what many viewed as a “toxic management” style.

Newsweek has reached out to Tesla for comment.