“We are trying to call attention to the fact that they are using $1.4 billion in Nevada money to staff jobs with workers from New Mexico and Arizona”, said Russ James, business development specialist with the Painters Union.
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About 100 workers were picketing, many of whom have spent months working on the gigafactory project, according to the Building and Construction Trades Council of Northern Nevada.
Construction workers helping to build Tesla’s Gigafactory near Reno, Nev. left the job site Monday in protest of a contractor’s decision to hire of out-of-state workers.
“Today’s activity stems from the local Carpenters Union protesting against one of the third-party construction contractors that Tesla is using…”
Koch said the protesters Monday included construction workers who were both affiliated with a union and those who were not.
“They’ve been giving Brycon more and more of the work and Nevada’s construction workers finally said, ‘We’ve had enough, ‘ ” Koch told the Review-Journal.
The contractor from New Mexico, Brycon Corp., has been bringing lower paid workers to the site, Koch said. Tesla didn’t say how the walkout is affecting work at the site.
Hundreds of union workers in Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada staged a walkout on Monday amid the company’s alleged controversial hiring practices.
Responding to the issue, Tesla Motors has stated that the work being done at the company’s $5 billion, 10-million-square-foot Gigafactory was being done completely within the limits of state laws, and that the contractor involved in the dispute is operating with 75 percent of its workers coming from Nevada, far above the 50 percent required.
REUTERS/James Glover IIConstruction of the Tesla Gigafactory in February of 2015.
James said union leaders haven’t decided whether to file a formal complaint with the state or the U.S. Labor Department, and wasn’t sure if workers would return to their jobs on Tuesday.
More detail will be posted on this developing story as it becomes available.
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“We have workers that are ready to go to work out there”, he added.
