‘Stand up Tesla’: UAW uses layoffs to make unionization progress at Tesla
The United Auto Worker (UAW), a powerful auto worker union in the US, is using Tesla’s recent layoffs to make unionization progress at the automaker.
The UAW unsuccessful pushed to unionize workers at Tesla’s Fremont factory and other locations.
Amid that last 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 earlier this year, Tesla successfully managed to bring the case to the Fifth Circuit court.
In the meantime, the UAW had a great victory outside of Tesla. The union led a successful strike against the Big Three that led to important gains for its members working for Ford, GM, and Chrysler.
Following the victory last year, the union wasn’t shy about setting its sight on Tesla and other non-unionized US automakers.
Lately, Tesla gave UAW some ammunition by implementing massive rounds of layoffs that cut between 15 and 20% of its entire workforce.
The way the layoffs were conducted also didn’t sit well with many Tesla employees as the automaker fired people by sending them a personal email halfway through their shift or during their commute to work.
Some were let go right after they moved for the job. As we previously reported, this situation has affected morale at Tesla.
Now, UAW appears to be taking advantage of the situation to increase support for unionization at Tesla Gigafactory Texas. This flyer was spotted in a Gigafactory Texas bathroom:
It reads:
Tesla’s layoff of thousands of employees is brutal, unfair, and unnecessary. Our hearts go out to our affected co-workers whose lives have been suddenly upended.
Share how Tesla layoffs are affecting you and your coworkers
This moment is a call to action for those of us who want to build a more sustainable workplace at Tesla. Without a union, Tesla has free rein to take this kind of brutal action whenever they find it convenient. That’s why workers at Tesla and across the auto industry are forming unions.
Unions are workers sticking together to achieve success and stability, providing for our families and building for OUR future. With a union, we can negotiate stronger rights and protections in an enforceable contract, instead of the company having total control over our working conditions and our lives.
Take action now by asking coworkers to sign an authorization card to form a union at Tesla. Workers can sign a card by going to teslastandup.org or scanning the QR code below:
The group is trying to get more people at Tesla to sign an authorization card, which is one of the steps toward pushing for a unionization vote.
Electrek’s Take
UAW has had many corruption scandals that have greatly affected its credibility over the years, but its latest battles against automakers in the US have helped a lot on that front.
On the other hand, Tesla has eroded its relationship with employees recently with layoffs and a reduction in compensation, all while Tesla’s board fights like hell to make sure its CEO gets the biggest compensation package of all time.
If you want your workers to think about unionizing, this seems to be the perfect playbook to follow.
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Environment
Trump administration is convinced massive Alaska energy project will find investors despite steep cost
The Trump administration is confident that a massive liquified natural gas project in Alaska will find investors despite its enormous cost.
President Donald Trump has pushed Alaska LNG as a national priority since taking office. Alaska has already spent years trying to build an 800-mile pipeline from the North Slope above the Arctic Circle south to the Cook Inlet, where the gas would be cooled and shipped to U.S. allies in Asia.
But Alaska LNG has never gotten off the ground due to a stratospheric price tag of more than $40 billion. Trump has pushed Japan and South Korea in particular to invest in the project, threatening them with higher tariffs if they don’t offer trade deals that suit him.
“If you get the commercial offtakers for the gas, financing is pretty straightforward,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC’s Brian Sullivan in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. “There [are] countries around the world looking to shrink their trade deficit with the United States, and of course, a very easy way to do that is to buy more American energy,” Wright said.
Energy analysts, however, are skeptical of the project. Alaska LNG “doesn’t have a clear cut commercial logic,” Alex Munton, director of global gas and LNG research at Rapidan Energy, told CNBC in April.
“If it did, it would have had a lot more support than it has thus far, and this project has been on the planning board for literally decades,” Munton said.
Defense Department support
Wright said the project would be built in stages and initially serve domestic demand in Alaska, which faces declining natural gas supplies in the Cook Inlet. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Department of Defense is ready to support the project with its resources.
“They’re ready to sign on to take an offtake agreement from this pipeline to get gas to our super strategic, important bases across Alaska,” Burgum said of the Pentagon in a CNBC interview at Prudhoe Bay.
Alaska LNG, if completed, would deliver U.S. natural gas to Japan in about eight days, compared to about 24 days for U.S. Gulf Coast exports that pass through the congested Panama Canal, Burgum said. It would also avoid contested waters in the South China Sea that LNG exports from the Middle East pass through, the interior secretary said.
Wright said potential Asian investors have questions about the timeline and logistics of Alaska LNG. The pipeline could start delivering LNG to southern Alaska in 2028 or 2029, with exports to Asia beginning sometime in the early 2030s, Wright said.
Glenfarne Group, the project’s lead developer, told CNBC in April that a final investment decision is expected in the next six to 12 months on the leg of a proposed pipeline that runs from the North Slope to Anchorage. Glenfarne is a privately-held developer, owner and operator of energy infrastructure based in New York City and Houston.
![Meyer Burger just shut down its US solar factory and laid off 282 workers [Update]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/05/Meyer-Burger-Goodyear.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Swiss solar manufacturer Meyer Burger has pulled the plug on its US solar module factory in Arizona and laid off nearly 300 workers; now, there’s more bad news.
June 2, 2025: On Saturday, May 31, Meyer Burger announced that its subsidiaries in Germany have each filed for insolvency proceedings. As we wrote below last week, the employees in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in Saxony and Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Lower Saxony were furloughed last year, but they’ve now been laid off.
Meyer Burger Germany in Hohenstein-Ernstthal employs 289 people in mechanical engineering and technology development. Meyer Burger Industries’ solar cell factory in Bitterfeld-Wolfen employs 331 people.
Subsidiary Meyer Burger (Switzerland) AG, which employs around 60 people in Thun, will remain in operation. Meyer Burger (Americas) Ltd. will also remain a company.
Due to ongoing financing discussions on restructuring, the company has requested an extension of the deadline for presenting its 2024 financial results, which expires today.
May 30, 2025: On May 29, all 282 remaining employees at the Goodyear, Arizona, factory received termination notices, and operations were shut down immediately. The site was still in its ramp-up phase and had a planned annual production capacity of 1.4 gigawatts. Meyer Burger had just started assembling solar cells imported from its factory in Germany.
The company says it’s been forced to shut down the US plant due to a lack of funding. The future of the Goodyear facility is now uncertain.
Meyer Burger is currently in talks with bondholders as it tries to restructure debt tied to two convertible bonds that mature in 2027 and 2029. Those bonds were issued by its subsidiary MBT Systems GmbH and guaranteed by the parent company.
It’s unclear what this means for Meyer Burger’s factories in eastern Germany, a company spokesperson told German press agency dpa. Around 300 employees at each site, in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in Saxony and Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Lower Saxony, were furloughed last year.
Meyer Burger has struggled for a few years, in no small part due to competition from cheaper Chinese solar imports. In 2024, it cut around 20% of its 1,000-person workforce, even as it moved ahead with US expansion plans. In December, the company secured nearly $40 million in bridge financing from creditors to keep things afloat, but that money appears to have run dry.
Meyer Burger says it will share more information as it becomes available.
Read more: Meyer Burger abandons German solar cell factory plans to build a US factory instead
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That’s not a typo. Lucid (LCID) is offering over $31,000 off select 2025 Air models this month as part of the EV maker’s strongest promotions so far.
Lucid Air EV gets over $31,000 in discounts this June
The Lucid Air is an impressive car inside and out. It’s not only pretty looking, but the 2025 Lucid Air is the “world’s most efficient car” with over 420 miles of EPA-estimated driving range and the highest MPGe rating of any EV at 146 MPGe.
This month, you can snag some serious savings on the luxury electric sedan with Lucid launching its largest discount program yet.
The 2025 Lucid Air is now available with up to $31,500 in discounts. The offer includes a $2,000 On-Site bonus, a $2,000 conquest bonus, a $20,000 Air Credit, and a $7,500 EV Credit. That’s for the Air Grand Touring trim with $6,819 due at signing.
Lucid is offering a generous $26,500 and $21,500 off the Touring and Pure trims, respectively. The discounts are up significantly from last month.
In May, the 2025 Lucid Air Grand Touring was listed with a $15,500 discount, while the Touring and Pure models had discounts of $20,500 and $18,000, respectively.
If you drive a Tesla, you save an additional $4,000. Lucid sweetened the deal for Tesla drivers last month, doubling its trade-in bonus.
Lucid’s offers end on June 30, 2025. You will need to take delivery by then to be eligible. The 2025 Lucid Air Grand Touring starts at $110,900, with 819 hp and 512 miles range. The base Air Pure trim starts at $69,900, with 430 hp and 420 miles range.
For those of you looking for something a bit larger, you might want to check out Lucid’s first electric SUV, the Gravity.
2025 Lucid Air trim |
Starting Price | Lease Discounts | Lease From (per month/ 36 months) |
EPA-estimated Range |
| Lucid Air Pure | $69,900 | -$18,000 | $579 | 420 miles |
| Lucid Air Touring | $78,900 | -$20,500 | $599 | 406 miles |
| Lucid Air Grand Touring | $110,900 | -$15,500 | $849 | 512 miles |
| Lucid Air Sapphire | $249,000 | N/A | N/A | 427 miles |
The Gravity fits seven comfortably and boasts a driving range of up to 450 miles. According to Lucid’s payment calculator, the 2026 Lucid Gravity Grand Touring can be leased for around $1,100 a month.
The offer is based on the GT’s MSRP of $94,900 with a down payment of $8,030. Later this year, the Touring model will be available, starting at $79,900.
With over $31,000 in discounts, Lucid is launching its largest promotions to date. If you’re ready to check out the luxury EVs for yourself, you can use our links below to find current offers on Lucid Air and Gravity models near you.
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