An important detail that none of the reporting I've seen has mentioned: Tesla got upwards of $750 million in subsidies from the state of NY for putting the Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo.<p>The condition was that they had to support 1460 jobs. Last I heard they were around 1500, so it's reasonable to believe the analyst jobs are only located there to avoid paying fines for breach of contract with NYS.
> The Buffalo plant has over 800 Tesla Autopilot analysts with starting pay of about $19 per hour, Bloomberg wrote. The workers are reportedly "in non-engineering roles that contribute to Tesla's automated-driving development, including by identifying objects in images its vehicles capture and helping its systems recognize them on the road."<p>Best of luck to them but they’re in for a wake up call if they think they’re in a position of bargaining power for a job that takes maybe a day or two of training to learn.
As someone who has only worked in "right to work" states, it always strikes me as absurd that people seek "job security" through a 3rd party agency rather than by individual performance and developing personal relationships.<p>Honestly a big part of why I quit my last job was <i>too many</i> unproductive/unreliable coworkers.<p>Am I just Stockholm Syndromed?
<i>> Workers at the Buffalo plant told Bloomberg that Tesla tracks their computer keystrokes to monitor how they work, prompting some employees to refrain from taking bathroom breaks.</i><p>It’s honestly kind of mind boggling that this is even legal.
Does Tesla / Musk view their employees as people with their own lives, dreams, and aspirations.. or are they merely faceless resources?<p>The answer to this question will explain a lot.<p>Sometimes a little bit of empathy goes a long ways. Even in capitalism.
Not that it matters much as a matter of labor policy, but the factory in question is Gigafactory 2, which is a photovoltaic cell fab that employs (per Wikipedia) 1500 people. They make the roofing products, not cars or batteries.
I wouldn’t be surprised that UAW be behind that. It’s a very powerful organisation having a lot of political power.<p>They see Tesla as a threat to their system as Tesla is the only in the US not part of it and they are doing better than all the other car companies.<p>I know someone who saved companies from bankruptcy, usually heavy industries. When he get hired he install security cameras and other measures and after a few week usually find out that a lot of people are constantly stealing valuable materials from the company. It’s always people in the union with some friends that work on the floor.<p>He confront them, fire them and a few months later the company become viable again.
He found out that the most corrupt people are almost always in the Union organisation.