The boss of a Tesla manufacturing unit has defended the choice to ship managers to the properties of employees on long-term sick depart.
In latest weeks, a director of Tesla’s electrical automotive plant in Germany despatched managers to check out about two dozen workers who’ve continued to be paid whereas being on sick depart over the previous 9 months.
André Thierig, the plant’s manufacturing director, stated the house visits have been widespread follow within the trade and that the corporate merely needed to “attraction to the workers’ work ethic”.
The transfer by Elon Musk’s US-headquartered carmaker has sparked outrage on the commerce union IG Metall, which represents a proportion of the 12,000 employees on the Berlin-Brandenburg gigafactory.
The union has campaigned towards what it has alleged are harsh working circumstances with “unreasonably” lengthy hours and a poor well being and security document.
“Workers from virtually all areas of the manufacturing unit have reported a particularly excessive workload,” stated Dirk Schulze, a regional director on the union. “When there are workers shortages, the sick employees are put underneath stress and those that stay wholesome are overburdened with extra work.
“If the manufacturing unit’s overseers actually wish to scale back the extent of illness, they need to break this vicious circle.”
Sick depart charges on the manufacturing unit on the outskirts of Berlin, which the union says operates with a “tradition of concern”, have generally hit 15% or larger.
The union has stated that there’s a “tradition of concern” that has brought on stress and sick depart amongst employees.
Nonetheless, Thierig stated some employees have been making the most of Germany’s labour safety legal guidelines.
He stated that among the many manufacturing unit’s 1,500 non permanent employees, who function underneath related circumstances to full-time workers, the common fee of absence by means of sickness is simply 2%.
“In our analyses of attendance at work, some phenomena have grow to be apparent: on Fridays and late shifts, about 5% extra workers take sick depart than on different weekdays,” Thierig stated. “That isn’t an indicator of unhealthy working circumstances as a result of the working circumstances are the identical on all working days and throughout all shifts. It means that the German social system is being exploited to some extent.”
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The corporate had recognized about 200 members of workers who have been nonetheless being paid however had not turned up for work in any respect this 12 months. “They submit a brand new sicknote from the physician a minimum of each six weeks,” he stated.
Final October, Tesla rejected claims made by IG Metall that well being and security provisions on the manufacturing unit weren’t satisfactory.
The manufacturing unit, which is in Grünheide, south-east of Berlin, was opened in 2022 and is the electrical automotive producer’s first in Europe.
Musk, the Tesla chief govt, cited Brexit uncertainty as a consider deciding towards constructing a manufacturing unit within the UK.
Tesla has been contacted for remark.
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