Tesla Shanghai workers appeal to Elon Musk over bonus cuts
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Workers at Tesla’s Shanghai factory have taken to social media to appeal to the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, and the Chinese public after being informed of cuts in performance bonuses. According to the workers, the cuts were attributed to a major accident earlier this year at the factory.
Tesla Shanghai workers complain of bonus cuts
The recent complaints show that things are not all rose at the automaker’s Shanghai factory. Last year, Musk praised the workers at this factory, saying that they burned “the 3 a.m. oil” to ensure the plant’s operations continued despite the two-month COVID lockdown imposed in the city.
The worker complaints come when Tesla is offering more discounts for some models in several markets, including China. The automaker has been struggling with weakening demand, threatening to reduce its profit margin.
The workers complained on platforms such as Baidu, some even taking to Twitter, which Musk owns. In one of the tweets directed to Elon Musk and Tesla’s Asia unit, one person urged them to “pay attention to the performance (bonus) of frontline workers at Tesla’s Shanghai factory being arbitrarily deducted.”
Tesla employs around 2,000 people at the Shanghai plant. Some workers at the plant complained to Reuters of these bonus deductions saying that they were informed over the weekend of a cut to the quarterly bonus cut. This bonus is determined by the performance of the factory.
Bonus cuts attributed to a safety incident
According to the workers, Tesla supervisors attributed the cuts to a “safety incident.” The online complaints said that workers at this factory were getting unfair penalties for the incident that happened at the factory resulting in the death of one person.
On April 12, the local Pudong government published a report saying that a mechanical incident at the Tesla Shanghai factory happened on February 4. One worker died as a result of the accident, with the investigations done by the local government saying that the deceased worker was directly responsible.
The base salaries at the Shanghai plant start at around 5,340 yuan per month, with additional income from bonuses, overtime work, and shifts. Some workers have complained about their quarterly bonuses being slashed by around 2,000 yuan.
One researcher at China Labour Bulletin noted that it was a normal occurrence for workers to be penalized after a work accident. However, the penalty amount came from the safety bonus. On the other hand, the performance bonus was related to the workers’ output and had little to do with work safety.
Tesla will be releasing its Q1 2023 results on Wednesday. The results will give investors an insight into how the company’s financial position has transformed with price reductions. Last Friday, the prices for some Tesla vehicles across Europe, Israel, and Singapore were reduced. The discounts added to the price reduction drive that the company started in China in January.
