US automotive firm Tesla is letting go of dozens of employees, a Bloomberg report said on February 16, days after employees in New York launched a campaign to organise a union with Workers United Upstate New York.

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Tesla is reportedly firing employees at its Buffalo, New York factory just a day after Autopilot workers announced their campaign, organizers told Bloomberg.

The release posted on Twitter by the union on February 14 said, “We want Tesla to be the company we know it can be.” “Our union will further Tesla’s principles and objectives, including by helping to serve as the conscience of the organization and by ensuring and deepening our culture of trust and respect,” it added.

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— TeslaWorkersUnited (@united_tesla) February 14, 2023

Tesla Workers United is the first union that has been formed for Tesla The campaign will set the stage for a new labour battle with CEO Elon Musk, who has openly expressed his opposition to unions in the past.

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According to the Bloomberg report, the union in a filing with the US National Labor Relations Board, has accused Tesla of illegally terminating the employees “in retaliation for union activity and to discourage union activity.” The union has reportedly asked the labour board to seek a federal court injunction “to prevent irreparable destruction of employee rights.”

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In a letter to management Tuesday, the Tesla Workers United organising committee said that the employees are seeking a voice on the job at the plant in Buffalo and want to “build an even more collaborative environment that will strengthen the company.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken a hard line against organised labour, despite an invitation to the United Auto Workers union to hold an organising vote at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California.

In 2021 Tesla was ordered by the National Labor Relations Board to make Musk delete a 2018 tweet in which it said that he unlawfully threatened employees with loss of stock options if they chose to be represented by the UAW.

The tweet had said: "“Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.” In August 2022 the National Labor Relations Board reversed a Trump-era decision by finding that Tesla can't stop factory employees from wearing clothing with union insignia while on the job.

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It ordered Tesla to stop enforcing an “overly broad” uniform policy that effectively stops production workers at Tesla's Fremont, California, factory from wearing black shirts with the United Auto Workers union's logo.

Tesla labour organisers wrote Tuesday that they are seeking a union as innovative as the electric car company. “We believe that by having a union at Tesla, we will further the mission of sustainability and foster a progressive environment for us all,” the letter said.