Tesla factory workers reveal pain, injury and stress: 'Everything feels like the future but us'

Musk, CEO of of Tesla says his workers are having a hard time working long hours and working hard jobs. But he cares deeply about their health and well being. With 100s of ambulances showing up for chest pains, dizziness and work related injuries the CEO says the factories safety record has improved over the last year.

Ambulances have been called more than 100 times since 2014 for workers experiencing fainting spells, dizziness, seizures, abnormal breathing and chest pains, according to incident reports obtained by the Guardian. Hundreds more were called for injuries and other medical issues.

In a phone interview about the conditions at the factory, which employs about 10,000 workers, the Tesla CEO conceded his workers had been “having a hard time, working long hours, and on hard jobs”, but said he cared deeply about their health and wellbeing. His company says its factory safety record has significantly improved over the last year.

People passing out is no new thing in factories-but having workers continue working (as claimed in the story) is new and not good for moral. With low wages and mandatory over time the workers maybe seeking to unionize. The feeling by some is that Musk has no idea what it takes to make cars and some feel he (Musk) thinks car manufacturing is similar to nerds typing on computers at desks.

“I’ve seen people pass out, hit the floor like a pancake and smash their face open,” said Jonathan Galescu, a production technician at Tesla. “They just send us to work around him while he’s still lying on the floor.”
“From what I’ve gathered, Elon Musk started Tesla kind of like an app startup, and didn’t realize that it isn’t just nerds at a computer desk typing,” said one production worker, one of several who asked not to be identified by name. “You really start losing the startup feel when you have thousands of people doing physical labor.”

In February, Tesla worker Jose Moran published a blogpost that detailed allegations of mandatory overtime, high rates of injury and low wages at the factory, and revealed that workers were seeking to unionize with the United Auto Workers.

www.theguardian.com...

Tax money has assisted Musk's empire flourish.

Elon Musk's growing empire is fueled by $4.9 billion in government subsidies
www.latimes.com...

The Irony is compelling !!

Ambulances have been called more than 100 times since 2014 for workers experiencing fainting spells, dizziness, seizures, abnormal breathing and chest pains, according to incident reports obtained by the Guardian. Hundreds more were called for injuries and other medical issues.

Think about all the fossil fuel getting wasted by those ambulance engines !!

a reply to: xuenchen

Now I am under the impression that the story separated the stress related meat wagon rides with the regular factory injury meat wagon rides.

Low pay? I imagine it is low for the area in Cali? I don't know how much a union would help.

Most regular labor jobs are dangerous. People get hurt all the time, but usually with minor things they don't call an ambulance.

People calling 911 for dizziness? I have a feeling there is an agenda to make a big deal about this and milk it somehow $.

But hey, everyone thinks we need more factory jobs in the USA, but now everyone's going to complain about it. This is how a factory is, it's dangerous, you risk your life for a paycheck.

I bet they are getting paid way better than tons of similar jobs.
These day labor agencies are the WORST and no one really ever talks about them.

Musk should give every prospective employee a copy of I robot, the complete robot short story series. It should be mandatory reading. After finishing the book if they still want to work for musk they should realize that they will always be second to the actual product and that unfortunately some will die and some will hang their hats. This is our future and we can't escape it.

Enjoy

ebookbees.com...

over 100 in 3 years isn`t a lot when you consider there are 10,000 people working there.

calling an ambulance because an employee feels dizzy isn`t something that most employers would do.

maybe some of those California snowflakes just aren`t cut out for factory work? I guess they could get a job at berkeley protesting guest speakers,maybe that would be more to their liking.

a reply to: Tardacus

100 for dizziness, chest pains-100's more for for injuries. I don't know if this is out of line, but Musk felt he had to say the saftey in his factory is "better now".

Ambulances have been called more than 100 times since 2014 for workers experiencing fainting spells, dizziness, seizures, abnormal breathing and chest pains, according to incident reports obtained by the Guardian. Hundreds more were called for injuries and other medical issues.

Compare that with how many are killed or injured on construction sites in a week and it starts to look stupid

a reply to: Tardacus

Exactly.

10,000 employees is massive. I've worked in distribution centers with maybe 250 warehousemen and 3 ambulance visits in a year wouldn't be that unusual and these were union (Teamster) shops. Scale that up to 40x and you get 120 a year or 360 in 3 years.

I think that people are seeing the raw numbers and not considering the scale. They're probably not considering the nature of many of these calls, like dizziness. Not really uncommon in the summertime in a lot of places.

Clearly none of us know the working conditions first hand but I'd be interested in hearing more details. Have there been OSHA investigations? I'm a big supporter of the labor movement. If Musk is truly running an unsafe shop or otherwise exploiting laborers, I want to know but based on the numbers alone, I'm not really moved.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Any time there is a time off injury it is considered an OSHA reportable injury. I worked in a skilled trade dept and if we had 5 injuries in a year it was considered horrible and there were drastic safety precautions put in place. This was with 130 people. We usually had 2 injuries (OSHA reportable) in a year.

a reply to: seasonal

The future won't last if it's built with snowflakes. Crack that whip! Build the future like the ancients built the great pyramid.

a reply to: TheAlleghenyGentleman

I doubt they are snow flakes.

I would think their pay does not come close to the surrounding area (rent-food-health care...) cost of living. Ijuries happen, and if there is a problem at Tesla OSHA will for sure make it right.

Mandatory OT gets old fast. If it continues too long it starts to effect work life balance. I'm sure there is a vision statement for Tesla that talks about work life balances being a "pillar" of the companies beliefs.

a reply to: seasonal

I agree about them not being snowflakes, I'm just being antagonistic. But, still, when you work for a (evil) genius like musk, who knows what you will be asked to build or test throughout your career.

originally posted by: Tardacus
over 100 in 3 years isn`t a lot when you consider there are 10,000 people working there.

calling an ambulance because an employee feels dizzy isn`t something that most employers would do.

maybe some of those California snowflakes just aren`t cut out for factory work? I guess they could get a job at berkeley protesting guest speakers,maybe that would be more to their liking.

Making jokes about people suffering at the hands of a billionaire who has no idea what he is doing sounds like a Trump supporter to me.

I hate the term "snowflake" but calling an ambulance for dizziness is just plain soft. Those factory workers would never make it in the construction industry. I once saw a guy cut his finger off, place the severed digit in his lunch box and drive himself to the hospital. Drs sewed it back on and he was back to work the following Monday. No bs.

In 20 years of building, I've seen one guy need an ambulance. Pouring and finishing concrete in 100 degree heat for 10 hours, this dude started having siezures. He ended up testing positive for a couple different drugs and alcohol and was fired.

These factory workers have two choices-take it, or leave it. If they had better options, they'd be there. Hate to sound like a hard as$ but sometimes work sucks and you gotta do what you gotta do.

a reply to: PorteurDeMort

Now you sound like a snowflake,you obviously have never worked,or worked at a large factory/warehouse not unusual for 911 to be called ,some should actually try working once,get an idea what it is like then complain,I imagine the workers there make well over 25.00 an hour,a lot more then far more dangerous jobs

a reply to: seasonal

Unfortunately in todays day in age we hear the fear screamed by the people that machines will take over, in this case it wouldn't be a bad thing, perhaps the company has not made so much to automate their production line efficiently.

Unless your a boxer or MMA fighter , you dont expect to be knocked out at work.

Musk likes to brag about how he sometimes sleeps on the floor of his factory, so he doesn't have to waste time going home. I can totally see him demanding mandatory overtime, and basically treating his workers like chattel slaves.

I normally don't care much for labor unions, but it seriously sounds to me like Tesla needs to unionize.
However, I half-expect Musk will burn down the factory if they do vote to unionize.

Pain, injury and stress?

Well, I'll go out on a limb and say all jobs can be stressful. That's why it's called work and not playtime.

As for pain and injury, that's just part of being a blue collar worker. If manual labor is too hard, you shoulda went to college and got a desk job.

Not sure what they're complaining about. If you get injured you file a workers comp claim and get paid to sit on your azz. If it's a serious injury, sue. There are laws in place to handle these things. Unions are for snowflakes.

Uhh what? 100 ambulance calls in three years!?

I worked in an extremely harsh environment before. A high density industrial work place manufacturing freight rail cars. A place MUCH MUCH more dangerous than an auto manufacturing facility. When it was at full force of some 3000 workers out of the the 4 years I worked there only a few people were injured, and measures were taken to keep workers cool and ready for work during the summer.
During July / august it was getting up in the 45 - 50 degree C, plus welding heat. I didn't see one person collapse from heat.

Mind you, the place I worked at was Unionized. Seems like Tesla is over working their employees and not taking preemptive measures to keep their workers healthy.

Also, to those who are saying "that's the industry" have no idea.