BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo has become a hotbed for labor organizing in recent years. The first Starbucks to unionize was located in Buffalo and in recent weeks another local coffee shop had its employees announce plans to unionize.
On Tuesday, workers at the Buffalo Gigafactory announced a campaign to form a union.
"We want an equal seat at the bargaining table," said Alexis Hy, a Tesla employee at the Buffalo Gigafactory. ''I as a worker am at the bottom and we make up most of the workforce yet we don't really have any representation."
Hy says PTO and micromanaging are two of the biggest issues organizers want to address with management.
"I don't think that we get enough of that," Hy said. "We're tracked by our keystrokes, and so they can tell any second that we're not working."
Hy said this has made employees put off taking breaks.
"It just feels like any issues that we have with them, we bring up and they're just swept under the table and not taken seriously," Hy said.
Tesla does not have a media relations department, an email to the listed press address immediately bounced back. 2 On Your Side tweeted a request for comment by Elon Musk.
Musk did not respond to our tweet.
Several of the organizers that helped several Buffalo Starbucks locations unionize are assisting Tesla employees with their organizing efforts.
According to testimony by Empire State Development's Hope Knight last week, Tesla employs between 1,700 - 1,900 in Buffalo.
Hy says that many of the staff at Tesla are now working on automation for the company's self-driving vehicle efforts.
"When you look at the job that we're doing and compare it to what other people are being paid in the same field, we are underpaid,' Hy said.
In March 2022, Musk tweeted an invitation for the United Auto Workers to try and form a union at the Freemont Gigafactory. Efforts by the UAW haven't really materialized.
In May 2022, however, Musk tweeted a seemingly negative opinion of unions, tweeting they were "just another corporation."
Spokespersons for Governor Hochul and NYS Senator Tim Kennedy confirmed with 2 On Your Side that they supported the efforts by Buffalo Gigafactory employees.