According to Reuters, some employees at Tesla’s largest factory are expressing their dissatisfaction with Elon Musk and his mother on social media after their bonuses were reduced following a fatal accident. After learning about the cuts over the weekend, workers took to platforms such as Baidu Tieba and Twitter to criticize Tesla management. They tagged Maye Musk, Elon’s mother, as well as the CEO of the electric vehicle company.
A Twitter user implored Tesla to take notice of the reduction in the compensation of frontline workers at the Shanghai factory. This factory was lauded by Musk last year for its employees’ strong work ethic, with some workers said to have slept on the factory floor during China’s COVID lockdowns to ensure that production continued.
Reuters referenced a report from the local government stating that a worker passed away in a welding workshop accident at Tesla in February. The investigation concluded that an error from Tesla’s safety management had an indirect role in the accident, but the worker was held directly responsible.
Two factory workers told Reuters that their quarterly performance bonuses had been reduced, with supervisors citing a “safety incident” as the reason. Aidan Chau, a researcher at China Labour Bulletin, stated that deductions for work accidents usually come out of a safety bonus, making it unfair to deduct the performance bonus, which should be linked to workers’ output and has nothing to do with work safety.
