BUFFALO — Barely 24 hours after a group of software workers at a Tesla factory in Buffalo issued a letter declaring their intention to unionize, firings began. And the organizers said it was not a coincidence.
In a filing to the National Labor Relations Board, organizers said at least 18 employees were dismissed Wednesday “in retaliation for union activity and to discourage union activity.” Tesla workers involved in the union campaign said Thursday that the number had grown to 37.
The workers said in interviews that most of those let go had not been involved in the campaign. Typically Tesla fires a small number of workers in March after performance reviews, they said — but they had never seen so many dismissed at once.
“It’s very suspect that all of this started to happen the day after the letter was sent to the company,” Arian Berek, a data annotation specialist involved in the Buffalo organizing committee, said in an interview. She was laid off Wednesday.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, has been blunt in his opposition to unions, and the company has a reputation for using hardball tactics against union organizers.
It is illegal for a company to fire workers for so-called protected concerted activity such as seeking to unionize. The Rochester, N.Y., branch of the Workers United union, in its filing, said the firings were unlawful and asked the labor relations board to seek a court order reinstating the workers with back pay.
Late Thursday, Tesla put a statement on its...
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