- Elon Musk invited the UAW to hold an election at Tesla in a tweet on Thursday.
- The Tesla CEO has been highly critical of the automotive union in the past.
- The UAW did not respond to a request for comment.
Elon Musk invited the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) to come to Tesla following years of speaking out against the organization.
"Our real challenge is Bay Area has negative unemployment, so if we don't treat and compensate our (awesome) people well, they have many other offers and will just leave!" Musk said on Twitter Thursday. "I'd like hereby to invite UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience. Tesla will do nothing to stop them."
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2022
The CEO made the comment in response to a tweet thread on President Joe Biden's reluctance to credit Tesla with electric car adoption in the US. In the series of tweets, Musk noted that Tesla operates the largest car manufacturing plant in North America and has built about two-thirds of all-electric cars in the US. He also said that Tesla pays more than its competition.
The UAW did not respond to a request for comment on the invitation from Insider. Federal law prohibits employers from attempting to impede the organization of a union.
Musk appeared to taunt the UAW in a tweet following the invitation. In the tweet, he included a video of New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc (NUMMI) workers denouncing the UAW for "intimidation" in 2010 at the location that has since become Tesla's Fremont factory. The video was taken only a month before the manufacturing company closed.
"This old YouTube clip helps explain why former UAW members who work at Tesla are not huge fans of UAW," Musk wrote on Twitter.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2022
Some Tesla workers sought to unionize with the help of the UAW in 2017. Last year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that Tesla and Musk "unlawfully threatened" workers hoping to unionize. The group said Tesla "interrogated" employees involved in the effort and ordered Musk to delete a tweet it deemed "anti-union."
In the past, news outlets have theorized that Tesla has been excluded from White House recognition, as well as events around EV adoption because the carmaker is not unionized.
In January, Musk called Biden a "UAW sock puppet" on Twitter. Last year, Musk criticized a new bill that would benefit electric-vehicle manufacturers with unions.
Musk's tweet comes as his Fremont factory faces scrutiny from a California civil rights regulator. Last month, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a complaint alleging Tesla's Fremont factory fosters a hostile work environment for Black workers, citing "hundreds of complaints from workers."
In response, Tesla has criticized the agency's lawsuit, calling it "misguided."
"Attacking a company like Tesla that has done so much good for California should not be the overriding aim of a state agency with prosecutorial authority," the company said in a post on its website. "Tesla strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment and has a dedicated Employee Relations team that responds to and investigates all complaints," it added.
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