German union giant IG Metall has fallen short of its aim to secure a majority on the works council of the Tesla plant outside Berlin.
Instead of backing IG Metall, Germany’s dominant automotive industry union, nearly 11,000 Tesla workers handed 24 of the 37 worker council seats to non-union groupings.
With a 90 per cent turnout, the largest share of 16 seats when to Giga United, headed by a former works council head. Just 13 seats went to IG Metall representatives, a 31 per cent share down from 40 per cent in the last works council election two years ago.
In a pre-recorded address before the election, Tesla founder Elon Musk suggested keeping the plant “free from external influences” was the best way to secure future expansion plans.
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Ahead of the vote, IG Metall accused other non-union representative groups of being too company-friendly. It pushed for full unionised pay rates and promised more pushback against what it considered arbitrary firings and harassment of sick employees.
Local union officials expressed disappointment with the result after what one called a “tough and dirty” election campaign.
“The resistance, hostility and implicit threats from the employers’ side that have characterised this election campaign must serve as a warning to all of us about how much pressure union work is under,” said Christiane Benner, head of IG Metall.
The union’s Berlin-Brandenburg chief Jan Otto said Tesla had “used all means and all channels” to push back against IG Metall “from company meetings, one-on-one meetings with superiors to the factory radio in the toilets”.
“Never before as a trade unionist have I experienced a management that, with all its power, threatened to influence such a works council election,” he said.
Sales figures provided by an industry analyst to the Handelsblatt daily suggest the Brandenburg plant produced 149,000 cars in 2025, down 30 per cent on the previous year.
New registrations across Europe dropped 17 per cent in January, the 13th consecutive decline.
The Berlin-Brandenburg plant opened in 2022 but has cut its workforce by 14 per cent. According to the Handelsblatt business daily, the factory is often working at only 40 per cent capacity.
