Elon Musk found to have broken US labour law with anti-union tweet

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has been found to have broken US labour law in 2018 after tweeting that Tesla factory workers would lose their stock options if they chose to unionize, according to a federal appeals court. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that found Musk made unlawful threats around employee compensation.

The tweet in question was a response to a Twitter user who asked Musk about his stance on unions. Musk replied, "Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare."

Labour activists were quick to react, and in 2021, the NLRB found Musk had threatened employees in violation of labour laws. Tesla argued that the tweet was Musk's way of pointing out that workers at other automakers don't receive stock options. However, the NLRB saw it differently, with chair Wilma Liebman stating that "the employee is going to hear it as, 'If I vote to unionize, stock options will no longer be an option.'"

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The Fifth Circuit Court agreed with the NLRB's decision, stating that "substantial evidence supports the NLRB's conclusion that the tweet is an implied threat to end stock options as retaliation for unionization." 

The court ordered Musk to delete the tweet, although it remains live at the time of writing. 

Additionally, the court upheld an NLRB order that Tesla reinstates Richard Ortiz, a worker the automaker fired for organizing employees at its Fremont factory in California.

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