National Labor Relations Board files lawsuit against Buffalo Tesla factory

Aidan Joly and Rhiannon Browning

5 minutes ago

Tesla Gigafactory 2 is demonstrated Friday, March 18, 2022 in Buffalo, New York (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The National Labor Relations Board has filed a lawsuit against Tesla’s South Buffalo factory, accusing the automaker of using strategies to prevent employees from unionizing.

The complaint, filed in February by the board’s regional director, accuses Tesla of enforcing an illegal policy regarding the use of technology in the workplace. The complaint says this includes restricting the use of technologies, such as email and content sharing, for “commercial purposes only.”

The organization says this policy takes power away from employees, so they cannot form, join or assist a union.

Tesla is already preparing to lay off hundreds of its employees at the South Buffalo factory. In April, it filed a notice announcing plans to lay off nearly 300 employees. In a second notice filed last week, the company said it plans to lay off 26 more employees. The layoffs come as the company plans to lay off about 10% of its workforce. Between the two notices, the 311 total employees Tesla plans to lay off represent just over 15% of its workforce in Buffalo.

If the parties fail to resolve this new complaint, they will have to appear before an NLRB administrative law judge in July.