UAW BOSS SAYS TESLA WORKERS' PAY "PITIFUL," CALLS MUSK "GREEDY"
Shawn Fein said Detroit's Big Three should not compare their labor costs with Tesla, whose workers "are scraping to get by."
The United Auto Workers (UAW) has entered the fourth day of a historic strike that affects Detroit's Big Three carmakers at the same time for the first time ever.
The UAW resumed talks with GM, Stellantis, and Ford starting September 17, but about 12,700 UAW workers remain on strike at three US assembly plants – one at each of the Detroit 3 automakers.
While the strike has nothing to do with Tesla, UAW President Shawn Fein had some harsh words for the EV maker and its CEO, Elon Musk, during a recent broadcast of CBS' Face the Nation that you can watch in the video embedded above (Fein's remarks start from the 10:27 minute mark).
Since Tesla does not use unionized labor at any of its plants, its US facilities are operating normally at the moment. Obviously, this gives the company an advantage, as does the fact that the Detroit 3 would have to increase their labor costs massively if they caved in to UAW's demands.
Ford, for example, said the UAW's demands would more than double its labor costs, which are already significantly higher than those of Tesla, Toyota, and other foreign automakers that don't use union labor. In response, Fein said that labor costs are only a very small part of a vehicle's price.