Tesla Fired Workers Seeking to Organize, Union Says

Tesla fired a group of employees at its plant in Buffalo one day after the group announced plans to organize a union, the workers said in a filing to the National Labor Relations Board.

The Rochester branch of the Workers United union claims Tesla “terminated these individuals in retaliation for union activity and to discourage union activity,” according to a “charge against employer” filing submitted to the NLRB on Wednesday. The filing was first reported by Bloomberg.

“I strongly feel this is in retaliation to the committee announcement and it’s shameful,” Arian Berek, a member of the Buffalo organizing committee, said in a statement to The New York Times. According to The Times, Berek says she was fired after taking time off to recover from COVID-19 and taking bereavement leave.