, Columnist
Musk Shows Why the US Labor Movement Faces Long Odds
Tesla’s recent wage increases illustrate how easy it is for companies to undermine union organizing drives.
Not at a Tesla factory.
Photographer: Matthew Hatcher/AFP
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Low unemployment has been good not only for American workers but also for American labor unions, who’ve taken advantage of robust demand to win historic contracts in industries ranging from ports to railroads to aviation to auto manufacturing. Paired with a spurt of organizing activity at companies such as Starbucks and a White House that proclaims itself, accurately, as the most pro-union in history, there’s been a surge of optimism about a broad revival of union power in the US.
For better or worse, Elon Musk showed last week why that’s unlikely.