5$ per hour is practically minimum wage here in Slovenia except that you also get compulsory health insurance and pension contribution on top of that. And it's not extremely hard to get a job.<p>I wonder why anyone would repeatedly fly to the US to work for that money. He was maybe getting or was promised something more.<p>Also funny how they call us an "impoverished country". In my eyes an average Joe has much better quality of life in Slovenia than in the US :). I would say the problems start if you want to me more than the average Joe.
It is a rather complex problem and it needs to be solved, but I do not see how it's Tesla's fault. . .
First off Tesla chose Eisenmann for the expansion and in return they subcontracted another company which then brought in the the workers for the illegal work. Given those circumstances I believe Eisenmann knew what was going on if not they would have never made such a low bid, because they would have risked paying out of their pocket. Therefore, Eisenmann is responsible and Tesla should not be held accountable. . .
Aside from that what would be a good way to counter this specific problem? The people applying for the visa obviously can lie so it would be pointless to start from the application process because anyone from any other country can lie; it would be harder to verify if they really are coming as supervisors. . .maybe the companies that are working on large projects should be audited by their local authorities to make sure they have qualified workers? What would be a good solution for this problem of H1-B workers being used for cheap labor which in term is stealing Americans jobs?
This isn't a Tesla thing, it's an automotive industry thing (as alluded to in the article). You often see this with foreign car companies, or more specifically, with foreign-based contractors.<p>Just a little background, first. The car manufacturers often times aren't the ones designing the machines that build their cars. They come up with general plans for the layout and process and then they hire various engineering companies who specialize in that particular manufacturing process. Obviously they work closely with those companies to ensure that the designs meet their requirements.<p>Those engineering firms will then design, build, and install the equipment. Some of that work is done by sub-contractors. If the engineering company is based outside of the US (in this case, German-based Eisenmann), they are likely to have local workers (nationally or continentally speaking) that they are used to hiring for their projects (because they're familiar with their work, already have contracts set up, have the language issues more or less worked out, etc.). When they get contracts for the US, they are going to want to use the same group of people instead of the more complicated and risky option of trying to build a local team. This is especially true for physical labor (e.g. installation, setup) because you need those people onsite.<p>So, often times when there's a big automotive construction project you have lots of foreigners happening to show up to the area with tourist visas. The engineering firm provides housing and vehicles so they don't have to worry about that. And they pay them in the country they're based out of.<p>The manufacturer probably knows it's going on, but they don't ask questions. And I don't think it should necessarily be their responsibility. Sure, if they were held liable they would pay more attention. But you could say the same thing about the contractor as well. From the article, "The company overseeing Tesla’s expansion project — Eisenmann, a German-based manufacturer of industrial systems — also denied in court that it had legal responsibility for Lesnik." Unless someone (anyone in the chain, really) is fined or punished, no one is going bother worrying about it.
This is why Americans cannot have nice things.<p>Why did jobs move overseas ? If I am a business owner it makes absolutely no sense for me to pay 10x wages just for the privilege of hiring american workers. And if Laws do not change to take into account this differential more and more businesses will leave america.
This is always a usual problem for tech companies. Truth be told they tell everyone "oh we are doing this", but in reality they are just sub-contracting it. I for a fact know that most popular games are sub-contracted.
Why did the title change? It originally matched the headlines title of "THE HIDDEN WORKFORCE EXPANDING TESLA’S FACTORY" and given that tesla is saying they didnt know about it, that seems more accurate
Several years ago, Apple executives stepped up and took responsibility for monitoring and improving substandard labor practices in its Chinese manufacturing plants. Tesla could learn a few things from Apple about business ethics. Some of the Tesla shine has been tarnished by this story, and I hope they decide to conduct an impartial investigation and take action to make sure their subcontractors comply with US labor law.
The most difficult to understand part of the whole Tesla story for me is that they can operate the NUMMI plant in California successfully. I guess the huge capital base which they got essentially for free, and the proximity to Palo Alto HQ, makes up for Bay Area expenses and California regulation.<p>Sure wouldn't be where I'd choose to put a factory otherwise. From what I've read the low-VOC paint requirements in California lead to the Tesla Model S having inferior paint to Ford/etc (but still better than Nissan Leaf); one minor issue but probably representative.
Wow, I did not expect to see this. I imagined Tesla, a poster boy for American innovation, would do its best to stay away from shady labor practices. To their credit, they claim to know nothing about how their contractors employ people.