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Comment by ejb999 | Hacker News Reader

Seems a stretch to just assume it was union busting without more evidence.

200+ people doing the exact same job in another facility in CA, that was not trying to unionize, were also let go 6 months ago.

Seems clear that Tesla didn't need as many of these people doing this particular job function anymore.

https://archive.is/i6BCD

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I'd argue it is a stretch to assume it's anything but union busting given the timing, as if the goal is not to disrupt the union formation they'd have every reason to delay to prevent the appearance of it.

The timing of press articles was _entirely_ up to the people claiming to want to unionize. They most likely knew layoffs were coming, announced they wanted to unionize, then when layoff happened (which would likely have happened without the unionization announcement) accused Tesla of union busting.

According to this article, Tesla terminated employees one day after the unionisation campaign was announced. As such, even if the layouts had been planned beforehand, it was entirely Tesla's choice to still go ahead, knowing the impression it'd create. If Tesla didn't intend this to be a union-busting move, the smart move would be to delay. For that reason, coupled with the fact they've been found to illegally fire staff over unionisation efforts before [1] it's very hard to give them any benefit of the doubt. Either it's intentional, or Tesla are being idiots. Or both.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/25/business/musk-labor-board...

The alternative is that anyone can make themselves unfirable by claiming to be making a unionization attempt. That’s a worse outcome than some optics.

The alternative for Tesla would be to not put themselves in a situation where firings like this look inherently suspect because they have a history of attempted union busting, including by illegally firing people.

It's best not to assume. The NLRB is involved and have more information about the situation.

>Seems a stretch to just assume it was union busting without more evidence.

LOL you can't actually be serious?

you make a compelling argument

It's better than being facially stupid

please provide the reporting and analytics and data that tesla uses to make these decisions and provide your analysis on why this isn't a legitimate reduced need for certain job functions

I don't have to prove anything, it's called being reasonable. It's a reasonable assumption to make. It's going to be what they have to rebut in court. Past that you are just being unreasonable, obtuse, and argumentative.

Just based on their responses in this article thread, he's a Tesla apologist, if he doesn't work there, it's impressive volunteed work.

Yup. Project Vacation is in full swing these days.

"Project Vacation"?

Operation Vacation automation

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4305856-tesla-operation-vac...

Solid approach to data; completely wasted on a product they’ll never achieve…

I won’t weigh into the politics of the situation, but anyone who has their head on straight can see by now that “full self driving” isn’t becoming a reality any time soon. Even if the technology works out somehow, the politics of thing will take decades.

More interesting to me is the lessons the engineers learn there and take with them to other efforts, where success is more possible.

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