Tesla can no longer prohibit employees from wearing union badges or insignia on the uniforms they wear inside the electric car maker’s assembly plants.
In a 3-2 decision overturning a previous ruling handed down by the National Labor Relations Board, now dominated by President Joe Biden’s appointees, voted reverse a Trump-era decision, which held Tesla could ban the insignia worn by supporters of the United Auto Workers inside the company’s plant in Fremont, California.
The board said Monday a 1945 Supreme Court decision established the precedent for allowing the clothing, the board noted in the decision published this week.
Tesla uniform policy blocked
The board also ordered Tesla to stop enforcing an “overly broad” uniform policy that barred production at the Fremont factory from wearing black shirts with the UAW logo.
By ruling against Tesla, the board said it was simply upholding a “longstanding precedent” that it is “presumptively unlawful” for employers to restrict union clothing without special circumstances that justify the ban.
“The board reaffirms that any attempt to restrict the wearing of union clothing or insignia is presumptively unlawful and — consistent with Supreme Court precedent — an employer has a heightened burden to justify attempts to limit this important right,” Chairman Lauren McFerran said in a statement.
The dispute about the shirts dates back to 2017 when a UAW organizing drive inside the Fremont plant was showing signs of picking up momentum. Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk fought back by laying off dozens of employees and firing union supporters.
As part of the campaign against the union, Tesla instituted a new policy dictating employees had to wear a specific uniform supplied by the company. Union badges or stickers can now be worn on the uniforms supplied by the company, according to the NLRB ruling.
NLRB ruled against Tesla, Musk last year
Last year, the board ruled the union supporters were wrongfully fired and ordered the dismissed employees reinstated. The board also found that in a May 20, 2018 tweet, Musk unlawfully threatened employees with loss of stock options if they chose to be represented by the UAW.
Board members ordered Tesla to make Musk delete the tweet and stop threatening employees with loss of benefits for supporting a labor organization. Tesla has appealed the NLRB ruling and the appeal is now pending in front of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
However, the UAW’s organizing effort in effort in Fremont, where Tesla has more than 10,000 employees, has been stalled and the union has yet to penetrate other Tesla operations in Nevada, Texas or New York.
Organizing successes
During the UAW’s convention last month, delegates reaffirmed the union’s commitment to recruiting new members, which also has been stalled by the scandal that engulfed the UAW’s leadership during the past five years and sent a dozen UAW leaders, including two past presidents, to prison for federal crimes.
The UAW did succeed in organizing workers at ZF plant in suburban Detroit last year and employees at Dakkota Integrated Systems in Hazel Park, Michigan voted Aug. 19 to join the union.
According to the UAW, local unions are following up on more leads, filing more petitions and organizing more worksites than ever, delegates at the recent 38th Constitutional Convention recently passed an amendment to the Constitution that creates an 11th standing committee — an organizing committee — at local unions.
“Building organizing capacity within local unions sets up our union for success,” said Secretary-Treasurer Frank Stuglin. “By creating organizing committees at local unions, we are creating an activist base that will energize local union membership.”