Immediately, Tesla Autopilot employees within the firm’s Gigafactory in Buffalo, New York have formally kicked off the union push with a letter to administration, formally asserting their bid to unionize.

In keeping with a report from Bloomberg, the workers behind the union push despatched an electronic mail to Elon Musk and administration at the moment. The workers work on Tesla’s Autopilot mission, and declare that the corporate actively tracks keystrokes to gauge how lengthy staff spend on varied work duties, which some staff advised Bloomberg prevents them from taking rest room breaks. The union is pushing for higher pay, job safety, and protections that the corporate won’t retaliate towards union members.

“Tesla has demonstrated that as an organization, it stands out among the many relaxation within the trade,” Tesla Employees United wrote on its web site. “As employees, we’re proud to contribute to creating this the case. We’re organizing a union, with Employees United Upstate New York, that appears to be as progressive as the corporate we work for and to construct an much more collaborative setting that may strengthen the corporate.”

Tesla and Tesla Employees United didn’t instantly return Gizmodo’s request for remark.

G/O Media could get a fee

Pre-order now

Galaxy Book 3 Series

Available February 24
Each new laptop model comes with a free storage upgrade. The 1TB version of each is priced the same as the 512GB version which basically means the 1TB version is $200 off.

The Buffalo Gigafactory reportedly has 800 Autopilot analysts that identify objects in images from vehicle cameras, which helps the software recognize obstacles on the road. Pay starts at $19 per hour according to Bloomberg, but the workers feel pressured to work as much and as fast as they can, which they hope the union can curb.

Tesla and CEO Elon Musk has been vocally anti-union in the past. Musk—the free speech absolutist—has such religion that he pays and treats his staff nicely that he invited the United Auto Employees to carry a vote to unionize the corporate’s manufacturing unit in Fremont, California. Tesla, up to now, has reportedly retaliated towards union efforts, corresponding to when the corporate punished staff for carrying union clothes and instructed to not talk about their salaries.

Tesla has up to now been ready to withstand unionization efforts, however Buffalo’s Tesla Employees United—if it succeeds—can be the corporate’s first.