Biden has repeatedly left Tesla off the the guest lists and out of the prepared remarks he’s made promoting America’s EV industry. He’s instead praised General Motors and Ford Motor Co., which make and sell fewer EVs but employ tens of thousands of UAW workers. Bloomberg News reported last month that the president’s antipathy toward Tesla mainly has to do with Musk’s hostility toward unions.
The National Labor Relations Board ruled last year that Tesla had repeatedly violated U.S. labor law, including by firing a union activist, and needed to make Musk delete a May 2018 tweet that suggested workers would give up company-paid stock if they chose to unionize. Tesla appealed and has argued Musk’s tweet was protected by the First Amendment.
The UAW has been trying to organize the Fremont plant for several years and so far has had little success. The plant had been unionized under its former owners — a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corp. and GM.
