On 28 February 2022 employees at the Grünheide-based Gigafactory of the US car manufacturer Tesla, which is well-known for its aversion to unfettered employee representation will elect the company’s first ever works council (WC).The WC is ostensibly good news for the IG Metall trade union, however the electoral board only comprises management level employees and the voting calendar means that vehicle production employees will be excluded from voting and from being represented.
Just over two years ago when the US car producer announced it was going to build its fourth Gigafactory in Grünheide, north of Berlin, the ‘anti-trade union’ reputation of its boss, Elon Musk, sparked concern among the relevant German trade union bodies given their firm anchoring in the national ‘co-determination’ industrial relations model. While Tesla clearly cannot circumvent German company and labour law, the US firm has, from the outset, shown that it will only do the minimum. For example,
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