Workers at the Tesla factory in Shanghai, who were informed over the weekend that their performance bonuses would be reduced, took to social media to make a plea to Elon Musk and the Chinese people.
In several of the tweets, people criticized Tesla over the changes and claimed they thought the deductions were related to a deadly accident that occurred earlier this year at the plant, which is its largest globally.
Tesla Employees Dissatisfied with Bonus Reduction
The incident represents a rare display of unhappiness at Tesla’s Shanghai facility, which employees Musk commended last year for burning the oil at 3 in the morning to keep things operating while the city was under a two-month COVID-19 lockdown.
It happens at a time when Tesla has been reducing prices in a number of places, notably China where demand has been waning, raising questions about its leading profit margin in the sector.
Late last week, the postings started to appear on forums like Baidu Tieba. Several people used the Musk-owned and China-blocked Twitter platform to twit the billionaire, his mother Maye Musk, and Tesla.
Two employees at the facility, where Tesla employs approximately 20,000 people, told Reuters that they received word from their managers over the weekend that their quarterly incentive payout, which is based on the efficiency of the manufacturing, would be reduced.
When probed about the reasons for the bonus cut, the employees claimed that Tesla bosses referred to a safety incident. They chose not to give their names for fear of losing their employment.
An incident this year at the factory in February that resulted in one worker dying was the subject of several online posts that alleged workers at the Shanghai company were being unfairly punished.
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Company Slashes Prices Globally Amid Rising Competition
A technical mishap in the welding workshop of Tesla’s Shanghai facility occurred on February 4 and resulted in one worker’s death, according to a report released by the regional Pudong administration on April 12.
An omission in Tesla’s safety management was found to have indirectly caused the accident, and the deceased employee was found to have been directly at fault, according to the local government’s investigation
Requests for comments from Elon Musk and Tesla were not immediately fulfilled.
His mother, Maye Musk, is a model with a fan base in China. She just wrapped up a two-week tour of the nation, during which she toured the Shanghai plant and promoted her memoir.
The corporation cut pricing on Friday in Singapore, Singapore, and Europe. Since the beginning of the year, Tesla has decreased the cost of its base Model 3 by a total of 11% in the United States, and its base Model Y has seen a 20% decrease.
Consumers’ reduced non-essential spending due to worries about a potential recession has put pressure on the EV industry, but Tesla’s competitors, like Ford Motor Co., have increased competition domestically.
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