Recent reports have shed light on the alleged rampant racism experienced by Black workers at Tesla's Fremont factory in California. According to an Associated Press article, 240 Black factory workers claimed to have suffered from racism and discrimination at the electric automaker's San Francisco Bay Area plant, warranting the possibility of a class-action lawsuit against the company.
The testimonies filed on June 6, 2023, in Alameda County Superior Court include accounts from contractors and employees working on the production floor of the factory, with most working at the site from 2016 to the present. Legal representatives of the affected workers estimate that at least 6,000 employees could potentially become part of the class-action lawsuit.
These allegations are not the first of their kind against Tesla. A NBC Bay Area article mentions that a lawsuit was filed in 2017 by Marcus Vaughn, who claimed he experienced a hostile work environment at the Fremont factory, including racial slurs from co-workers and supervisors. Instead of investigating the claims, Tesla allegedly fired Vaughn for "not having a positive attitude."
Moreover, the California regulators sued Tesla last year, accusing the company of turning a blind eye to abuse and discrimination at the factory. According to the same NBC Bay Area article, Tesla CEO Elon Musk encouraged workers to be "thick-skinned" about racial harassment, further raising concerns about the company's stance on racism in the workplace. In April, a federal jury awarded another former Tesla employee $3.2 million for racial abuse he suffered.
Despite these earlier lawsuits, it seems that the alleged issue of racism at the Tesla factory in Fremont has persisted. According to the recent testimonies, racial slurs occurred frequently, and some even compared the manufacturing site to a plantation or slave ship. The summary of the statements indicates that over half of the declarants heard supervisors and managers use racial slurs, and many had the slurs directed towards them. Additionally, nearly half of the declarants claimed that they experienced or witnessed other Black workers assigned to more physically laborious work and disciplined more frequently than their counterparts of different backgrounds.
Among them, production associate Albert Blakes shared in his statement that it was challenging to go to work, expecting to face racist slurs, references to slavery, and offensive graffiti for 12 hours at a time. Despite making a verbal complaint to human resources in late 2021, Blakes never received any response, and nothing changed at the factory.
Bryan Schwartz, one of Vaughn's lawyers, noted the case has dragged on for years, with Tesla attempting to force the lawsuit into arbitration. But in April, the California Supreme Court allowed affected Black workers to seek a public injunction in court, aimed at requiring Tesla to change its work environment, as reported by the Associated Press.
For now, Tesla has not yet responded to the recent allegations. With the possibility of a class-action lawsuit looming, the pressure is on Tesla to address these claims and take necessary steps to create a safe and inclusive environment for all employees.
