White House Appears to Shut Out Tesla from Biden’s Speech on EVs Because Its Workers Aren’t Unionized

Win McNamee/Getty Images

At a signing ceremony at the White House on Thursday, President Joe Biden affixed his John Hancock on an executive order that sets a (non-binding) national goal to have electric vehicles account to account for half of all new auto sales by 2030. The speech was attended by the CEOs of General Motors and Ford, as well as representatives from the United Auto Workers. Leaders for Stellantis – formerly Chrysler-Fiat – were also invited.

Noticeably absent was the country’s largest electric vehicle manufacture, Tesla Motors. Tesla CEO Elon Musk seemed miffed by the snub, and not surprisingly made this known on Twitter.

Yeah, seems odd that Tesla wasn’t invited

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 5, 2021

During the White House daily press briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked if the omission of Tesla was because it doesn’t have a unionized workforce.

She replied that “these are the three largest employers of the United Auto Workers, so I’ll let you draw your own conclusion.”

Biden has long been a supporter of unions, but Musk, not so much. In 2017, Tesla fired employee Richard Ortiz, who was visibly involved in a unionization campaign of Tesla employees. An administrative law judge ruled that the termination was retaliation for Ortiz’s efforts to unionize the company’s workforce.

In 2018, Musk tweeted that a unionized workforce at his company would have to give up their stock options “for nothing.”

Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2018

The National Labor Relations Board issued a judgment in March, upholding its 2019 determination that Tesla must reinstate Ortiz and give him back pay. The board also asked Tesla to have Musk delete the tweet, which remains on Twitter. It is unclear if Ortiz has been reinstated or receive restitution.

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