After Tesla gained permission from local authorities to reopen its Fremont factory, employees are not wearing personal protective equipment and are unable to maintain a safe distance at the Fremont factory, a worker said Monday.
Speaking during a protest that started at Oakland’s California State Building, Carlos Gabriel, who said he worked as a production associate at the factory, criticized Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has opposed health orders limiting his and other businesses from operations during the coronavirus pandemic.
Musk “has dumbed down this pandemic from the get-go,” Gabriel said. “He said it was dumb to worry about it. He said that it’s not that fatal. He called for the liberation of America, whatever that is. All he wants is profits over health.”
Tesla defied Alameda County’s shelter-in-place order last month and filed a lawsuit against the county. Musk said he would move the company’s headquarters out of the Bay Area. Days later, Tesla gained approval to open the factory and dropped the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Tesla employees wondered if it was safe to return to work. Even when the company said its new safety and health plans had been approved by the county, workers questioned if the precautions would be enacted. The company told employees that beginning Monday, they would be asked to return to work.
“Tesla illegally reopened: without inspection, without sanitation and with very little” protective equipment, said Gabriel, who has refused to return to work. “They have 10,000 to 15,000 employees. I don’t want to be part of a social gathering with 10,000 people for mediocre pay.”
According to Gabriel, Tesla employees are still being shuttled from a parking lot to the factory amid close quarters, don’t always have the proper facial coverings and are scared to go the bathroom. He said the company deducted 80 hours of paid time off without his permission in March.
Masked and wearing a baseball shirt with black sleeves, Gabriel climbed onto the back of a truck bed. He chanted: “Where is Cal/OSHA?”
The California Department of Industrial Relations said it is looking into the situation. Tesla and Cal/OSHA did not respond to requests for comment.
Perhaps anticipating a larger crowd amid ongoing protests of George Floyd’s death, a dozen police officers stood in a lined barricade in front of Oakland’s Elihu M. Harris Building and six others waited on the corner of 13th and Clay streets. But law enforcement was never needed for the crowd of about 50.
The demonstration, organized by People’s Strike Bay Area, eventually worked its way to Fruitvale to protest police brutality and the Coliseum to demand more affordable housing.
“It’s all interconnected,” said Rico Taruc, who works for REI in Dublin. “With COVID being a backdrop of this and further pressing everyone’s energies and emotions, this lit the fire.”
Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron
"Factory" - Google News
June 02, 2020 at 10:01AM
https://ift.tt/2XOB8zm
Tesla worker criticizes factory safety - San Francisco Chronicle
"Factory" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2TEEPHn
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Tesla worker criticizes factory safety - San Francisco Chronicle"
Post a Comment