UAW applauds labor board ruling that Tesla violated workers’ rights

The UAW on Tuesday called a decision by the National Labor Relations Board against Tesla a victory for the labor movement.

The NLRB ruled Monday that “that it was unlawful for Tesla to maintain a policy requiring employees to wear a plain black T-shirt or one imprinted with the employer’s logo, thus prohibiting employees from substituting a shirt bearing  union insignia” in its factory.

The board is mandating that Tesla stop enforcing “the overly broad team-wear policy that prohibits production associates from wearing black union shirts,” according to a CNBC report. The automaker must notify employees that its policy has been rescinded or revised, and provide a copy of the changed policy.

“Our union commends this decision as a just recognition that the right to organize is meaningless if workers cannot exercise the right without fear of reprisal,” said UAW President Ray Curry in a statement Tuesday.  “Worker expression is a statement of solidarity during organizing.  As a result of this decision, which the UAW fought for, workers can feel more secure in their pro-union expression today as they work to form their unions.”

The decision contradicts a 2019 ruling over dress code policies at Walmart, which allowed Walmart to limit workers’ ability to wear pro-union gear at work. The UAW called that a “Trump-era NLRB decision that had strengthened the hand of employers in their ability to restrict worker expression on the shop floor.” 

Tesla had told the NLRB that the intention of the dress code was to prevent workers’ clothing from “causing mutilations” to the cars or car seats they were manufacturing. Also, it would help managers determine that employees are in their assigned work areas in the factory. According to CNBC, former Tesla employees testified before the NLRB that management made them take off T-shirts with UAW logos, even though the shirts did not pose a risk of damaging cars or car seats.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk did not respond immediately for a comment.

“This is a great victory for workers who have the courage to join together and organize in a system that is currently stacked heavily in favor of employers like Tesla who have no qualms about violating the law,” said Cindy Estrada, UAW vice president. 

The UAW said the decision comes more than four years after workers and the UAW filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB.  

“While we celebrate the justice in today’s ruling by an increasingly pro-worker NLRB, it also nevertheless highlights the substantial flaws in U.S. labor law,” Estrada said. “Here is a company that clearly took numerous aggressive and unlawful steps to block workers’ rights, and yet it is more than four years down the road before workers see a modicum of justice.”