Tesla is defending Elon Musk’s anti-union tweet all the way to the Fifth Circuit
Tesla is taking up a fight to defend Elon Musk’s tweet that threatened to remove employee stock options if they decide to unionize all the way to the Fifth Circuit court of appeal.
This is coming out of an old fight dating back to the UAW’s last unsuccessful push to unionize workers at Tesla’s Fremont factory and other locations.
Amid that push in 2017-2019, Tesla fought back the effort with what the union considered to be illegal tactics.
They filed a complaint with the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB), which eventually sided with the union and found that Tesla violated labor laws.
The violations included preventing the distribution of union materials, terminating employees due to union support, and, finally, a specific tweet posted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The tweet in question stated that Musk is fine with Tesla workers unionizing, but he believes that they wouldn’t because they would have to “pay union dues and give stock options for nothing”:
This has been perceived as a threat that Tesla would remove employee stock options if employees unionize.
The NLRB doesn’t have any authority to impose punitive damages on Tesla or executives, but it ordered a cease and desist of those activities, which included the removal of that tweet.
The ruling was upheld by the court, but now the Fifth Circuit court has granted a reconsideration and will be hearing from both sides.
Bloomberg Law summarized Tesla’s case, which seems to rely on the fact that Musk wasn’t directly threatening Tesla employees and only responding to a non-employee on Twitter.
The company also appears to argue that the ruling was “politically motivated”:
“It would be backwards, under the Constitution’s separation of powers, to afford more deference to the findings of politically motivated executive branch officials than courts afford to findings by judges and juries,”
Going all the way to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals seems like a lot to defend a single tweet, but some see the issue as much bigger.
Kara Rollins, an attorney with the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which is backing Tesla, said this about the case:
“This is really about fundamental First Amendment interests in relation to the National Labor Relations Act, which has some limited speech controls. This case looks at that provision of the NLRA and the First Amendment through the lens of social media.”
The case is currently being considered by the court, but it could be a while before we get a ruling.
The new look at the case comes amid Tesla’s preparation to fight back against another unionization effort from UAW after their big win against the Big Three in Michigan. UAW has made it clear that it is now setting its sights on non-unionized automakers in the US and there’s none bigger than Tesla.
Electrek’s Take
At the fear of stating the obvious: I am not a First Amendment lawyer. So, take my comments with a grain of salt.
But to me, the tweet is more than Elon exercising his right to comment on unions. He is stating that employees would forfeit their stock options if they decide to unionize. He is saying that as if it’s obvious that it’s either union or stock options, while there’s no reason why it couldn’t be both.
It does sound like a threat, which could affect how Tesla employees approach the possibility of unionizing.
I don’t know if unionization is the right path for Tesla. I think the right of workers to bargain collectively is of the utmost importance, but I also think that employers have the capacity to treat their employees fairly in the first place, which wouldn’t require unionization.
Comments like that from Elon don’t seem to contribute to a positive outcome either way though.
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Tesla is again teasing the new Roadster, which is now five years late, as “the last driver’s car” before self-driving takes over.
The chicken or the egg. Is Tesla delaying the Roadster to match the development of self-driving technology, or is it delaying the development of self-driving technology to match the delayed release of the Roadster?
The prototype for the next-generation Tesla Roadster was first unveiled in 2017, and it was initially scheduled to enter production in 2020; however, it has been delayed every year since then.
It was supposed to achieve a range of 620 miles (1,000 km) and accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds.
It has become a sort of running joke, and there are doubts that it will ever come to market despite Tesla’s promise of dozens of free new Roadsters to Tesla owners who participated in its referral program years ago.
Tesla used the promise of free Roadsters to help generate billions of dollars worth of sales, which Tesla owners delivered; however, the automaker never delivered on its part of the agreement.
Furthermore, many people placed deposits ranging from $50,000 to $250,000 to reserve the vehicle, which was initially scheduled to hit the market five years ago.
When unveiling the vehicle, CEO Elon Musk described it as a “halo car” that would deliver a “smack down” to gasoline vehicles.
That was almost eight years ago, and many electric hypercars have since launched and delivered this smackdown.
Tesla has partly blamed the delays on improving the next-gen Roadsters and added features like the “SpaceX package,” which is supposed to include cold air thrusters to enable the vehicle to fly – Musk has hinted.
Many people don’t believe any of it, as Tesla has said that it would launch the new Roadster every year for the last 5 years and never did.
Now, Lars Moravy, Tesla’s head of vehicle engineering, made a rare new comment about the next-generation Roadster during an interview at the X Takeover event, an annual gathering of Elon Musk cultists, last weekend.
He referred to Tesla’s next-gen Roadster as the “last best driver’s car” and said that the automaker did “some cool demos” for Musk last week:
We spent a lot of time in the last few years rethinking what we did, and why we did it, and what would make an awesome and exciting last best driver’s car. We’ve been making it better and better, and it is even a little bit more than a car. We showed Elon some cool demos last week and tech we’ve been working on, and he got a little excited.
The timing matches Musk’s recent claim that Tesla is going to have ‘the most epic demo ever, ’ but we heard that one before.
We suspected that the comment might be about the Tesla Roadster, as the CEO made the exact same comment about Roadster demos in 2019 and 2024. You will not be shocked to hear that these demos never happen.
Electrek’s Take
The “last best driver’s car” before computers are going to drive us everywhere. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy if you continue to delay the car. It might literally be the last car ever made that way. How would we ever know?
The truth is that the Roadster was cool when it was unveiled in 2017, but that was a long time ago. Tesla would need to update the car quite a bit to make it cool in 2025, and I don’t know that cold air clusters are it. You will have extreme limitations using those.
The Roadster is almost entirely in the “put up or shut up” category for me at Tesla. They need to stop talking about it and make it happen; otherwise, I can’t believe a word.
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The PV5 is already available in several markets, but will Kia launch it in the US? After Kia’s electric van was spotted testing in the US again, a US debut could be in the works.
Is Kia’s electric van coming to the US?
Kia launched the PV5, the first dedicated electric van from its new Platform Beyond vehicle (PBV) business, in South Korea and Europe earlier this year, promising it will roll out in “other global markets” in 2026.
Will that include the US? Earlier this year, Kia’s electric van was caught charging at a station in Indiana. Photos and a video sent to Electrek by Alex Nguyen confirmed it was, in fact, the PV5.
Kia has yet to say if it will sell the PV5 in the US, likely due to the Trump Administration’s new auto tariffs. All electric vans, or PBVs, including the PV5, will be built at Kia’s Hwaseong plant in South Korea, which means they will face a stiff 25% tariff as imports.
Following another sighting, a US debut cannot be ruled out. The PV5 Passenger model was spotted by Automotive Validation Engineer Chris Higa (@Chrisediting) while testing in Arizona.
There’s no denying that’s Kia’s electric van, but it doesn’t necessarily confirm it will launch in the US. But it could make sense.
Despite record first-half sales in the US, Kia’s EV sales have fallen significantly. Sales of the EV9 and EV6 are nearly 50% less than in the first half of 2024.
To be fair, part of it is due to the new model year changeover, but Kia is also doubling down on the US market by boosting local production. Earlier this year, Kia said the EV6 and EV9 are now in full-scale production at its West Point, GA, facility.
The PV5 Passenger (shown above) is available in Europe with two battery pack options: 51.5 kWh or 71.2 kWh, rated with WLTP ranges of 179 miles and 249 miles, respectively. The Cargo variant has the same battery options but offers a WLTP range of either 181 miles or 247 miles.
During its PV5 Tech Day event last week, Kia revealed plans for seven PV5 body types, including an Open Bed (similar to a pickup), a Light Camper, and even a luxury “Prime” passenger model.
Kia is set to begin deliveries of the PV5 Passenger and Cargo Long variants in South Korea next month, followed by Europe and other global markets, starting in Q4 2025. As for a US launch, we will have to wait for the official word from Kia.
Do you want Kia to bring its electric van to the US? Drop us a comment below and let us know your thoughts.
Source: Chris Higa, TheKoreanCarBlog
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