US car manufacturer Tesla delighted Germany when it decided to build the group's fourth super-plant (Gigafactory) and its first in Europe right next to Berlin. While the company has started a recruitment drive, the IG Metall union has offered it opportunity to commence dialogue on how it intends to comply with German labor law and legislation over participation in management bodies. IG Metall is currently still waiting for Tesla’s response and is also considering the nature of the company’s real intentions, in so far as it has just set up an ‘empty shell’ (no workers) European Company (SE) in Düsseldorf.
Tesla in no rush to answer IG Metall. Standing out as one of Germany’s ‘positive’ industrial events in what has been a lean year is the construction of American electric car manufacturer Tesla’s Gigafactory No. 4 near Berlin. However, while the Brandenburg state authorities and the Federal Ministry of Economics are accordingly and understandably euphoric, the IG Metall union is starting to question the carmaker’s best intentions, infamous as it is in the US for being an employer with an anti-union stance and an undisciplined approach when it comes to upholding labor legislation.
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