Worker Discontent Makes Tesla a Union Target

Tesla Motors is widely held up as the future of American automaking, bringing the Silicon Valley startup culture to a staid industry. The United Auto Workers union, by contrast, is often cited as one of the most regressive forces in the business, miring the companies whose workforces it represents in adversarial and inefficient relationships. So what happens when these seemingly irreconcilable forces meet? With any luck, a compromise that will push the UAW into modern relevance and allow Tesla to make the much-needed transition into a successful manufacturing culture.

As the only U.S.-based automaker without a UAW-represented workforce -- and as the occupant of a former UAW-represented plant -- Tesla has been on the union's radar for some time. In the past, Tesla's tiny startup scale and the UAW's focus on organizing Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant kept a confrontation on the back burner.