The Tesla factory in Grünheide does not come to rest. Employee rights and continued wages continue to ensure heated debates. IG Metall attacks the works council.
Grünheide-The Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg, a European showcase project by Elon Musk, remains the focus of an intensive discussion about restricted employee rights.
The vertebrae in the Tesla factory Grünheide is triggered by once allegations of the IG Metall union: At the center of the debate is the continued payment of wages in the event of illness-or rather the absence. The question of whether the works council meets his responsibility towards the employees remains open.
Tesla in Grünheide: works council rejects the application – criticism is the result
Part of the works council, organized in IG Metall, wanted to Handelsblatt Know how many on sick leave Tesla have no longer received a salary. However, the application to request these figures from the plant management was rejected, since 14 abstentions were formally assessed as rejection, even though the majority of those present voted for it.
IG Metall is outraged: it wanted to clarify how often certificates are questioned, how often wages are retained and whether affected employees are offered cancellation contracts. However, there is no answer.
Tesla and employee rights: doubts in 0.1 percent of the workforce?
However, plant manager André TherG was recently expressed in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) On these topics: According to his information, the doubts about the legality of the sick reports concern about a dozen cases per month, which corresponds to just 0.1 percent of the workforce.
In such cases, the employee must prove that the continued payment of wages was justified. If this does not succeed, the payment will be discontinued. Throughly defended this procedure as “completely legitimate” and confirmed by a “highest judicial law”.
Works council at Tesla too close to the management? IG Metall expresses criticism
According to the report, works council chief Nadine Schmitz is at the center of criticism. The IG Metall accuses her and other non-union organized works councils too much proximity to the plant management. In a newsletter it says: “Block the management works councils.”
So far, Schmitz has not commented on the allegations, but she had no information about the termination of continued wages in the event of illness. From the union’s point of view, the works council at Tesla in Grünheide does not act in the interest of the workforce, but in the interests of the employer.
Home visits: High sick leave at Tesla has now dropped
The conflict of numbers and transparency is part of a larger dispute: Tesla had to deal with an unusually high sick leave in 2024 – in August it was up to 17 percent. Management reacted with unannounced home visits to sick employees.
Although criticism became loud, Tesla defends the procedure as successful. HR head Erik Demmler said that, thanks to intensive discussions with the employees, sick leave declared around nine percent.
Step stop as a means of pressure? Tesla plant manager takes a position
Research suggests that other factors also play a role. In individual cases, sick leave at Tesla was no longer paid and partially asked to repay the salary that has already been preserved.
Factory manager André TherG was justified by the procedure for the Faz: “When we made the home visits in September, we were criticized for choosing this procedure instead of continuing the continued payment of wages after six weeks of illness. We are doing this now and will be criticized again.”
Disease case: What can employers ask and what not?
The discussion about continued wages in the event of illness has gained in importance beyond Grünheide: Even the German employer association questions the currently existing regulation-a previously inviolable employee law. How far can employees exhaust their rights? And how much control is the employer entitled to?
Loud Handelsblatt In some cases, Tesla requires the disclosure of the diagnosis and a delivery of the treating doctors from the duty of confidentiality. IG Metall speaks of an “inadmissible intimidation”.
Tesla in Grünheide: IG Metall demands paid breaks – a “red line” for boss
Despite the tensions, the IG Metall was in a different point to make progress in a different point: After tumulties at a Tesla works meeting at the end of March, the works council agreed to request management for negotiations on additional, paid breaks.
Over 3000 signatures have already been collected for this concern, but factory manager Thus is enthusiastic about the fact: paid breaks are nothing more than a “reduction in working time” – and he rejects it because it represents a “red line” for him.
Tesla has over 11,000 employees in Grünheide and supplies 37 markets
Despite all the criticism, the last time it was optimistic: Grünheide had proven itself as a production location, the quotes German press agency (dpa) the manager. From this location, 37 markets are now supplied.
Over 11,000 jobs have been created since commissioning, and the factory is considered the most modern of its kind in Europe. Since the official opening in March 2022, Tesla has continuously increased production.
