Elon Musk to Investigate Bonus Cuts for Tesla’s Shanghai Factory Employees
Elon Musk recently commented on reports that employees at Tesla’s Shanghai factory would have their performance bonuses reduced. Musk, who was alerted to the issue over the weekend, took to Twitter to say that he is looking into the matter. The reports were sparked by a now-deleted tweet from user @AFeiywu, who urged people to pay attention to the arbitrary deduction of bonuses for frontline workers at the factory, which employs around 20,000 people. Some workers claimed online that around CNY2,000 would be cut from their quarterly bonuses. According to Reuters, two workers cited the “safety incident” that occurred at the factory on February 4, resulting in one employee’s death, as a reason for the cuts.
An investigation found weaknesses in the factory’s security measures, with the employee who died failing to lock a safety gate as required by the rules. Another employee also failed to ensure that the area was clear before turning on the equipment that caused the accident. Some workers feel that it is unfair to have their bonuses cut because of the company’s liability problems. The incident was previously reported on Pudong’s website before being removed at Tesla’s request as it contained photos of the company’s production process. This news comes as Tesla plans to build a new mega factory in Shanghai for its energy-storage product Megapack, set to start production in Q2 2024.
