Tesla successfully scared Giga Berlin workers away from union

IG Metall’s vote share at Tesla’s Gigafactory Berlin decreased from 39.4% to just 31.1% in the works council election that concluded today, a devastating 8-percentage-point drop that came after weeks of threats, police involvement, and a direct warning from Elon Musk that expansion would stop if the union gained influence.

The management-aligned “Giga United” list won 40.4% of the vote, securing a commanding lead over the union and ensuring that Germany’s only non-union auto plant stays that way.

The results

Roughly 10,700 workers at Tesla’s Grünheide plant voted over three days from March 2–4, with 87% turnout — down 6 percentage points from the 2024 election. The council was reduced from 39 seats to 37, reflecting the factory’s shrinking workforce.

IG Metall needed 19 of those 37 seats to take majority control. They didn’t come close. The union’s 31.1% vote share represents a sharp retreat from the 39.4% it earned in 2024, when it secured 16 of 39 seats and became the council’s largest faction.

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Giga United, the list led by incumbent works council chair Michaela Schmitz, took 40.4%. A Polish workers’ initiative, reflecting the roughly 2,000 Polish employees, captured 8.3%. The remaining votes were split among eight other slates, with 550 total candidates running for 37 positions.

What happened in the lead-up

The weeks before this election were unlike anything seen at a German auto plant in recent memory. Tesla’s management launched a coordinated campaign against IG Metall that escalated in both intensity and tactics.

In early February, Tesla called police on an IG Metall representative at a works council meeting, accusing the union member of secretly recording the session. Police seized his laptop. IG Metall called Tesla’s account “a brazen and calculated lie” and filed defamation charges against plant manager André Thierig.

The union accused Tesla of fostering a “toxic” working environment at the plant, citing overworked employees, pressure on sick workers to return, and managers visiting workers’ homes to “appeal to their work ethic.”

Then came the biggest weapon: Elon Musk sent a pre-recorded video to all 10,700 workers warning that the plant’s expansion, including potential Cybercab and Semi production, would not happen if IG Metall gained influence. “We will not close the factory, but realistically we will also not expand,” Musk said. Plant manager Thierig delivered the message alongside Musk from Austin, Texas.

Tesla also held an anti-union concert for employees in December and distributed buttons reading “Giga JA – Gewerkschaft NEIN” (Giga YES – Union NO).

The bigger picture

The backdrop to all of this is a factory in distress. Tesla has quietly cut roughly 1,700 jobs at Giga Berlin over the past year, reducing headcount from 12,415 to 10,703, a 14% reduction. The plant is capable of producing over 375,000 Model Ys per year but is reportedly running at about 40% capacity.

Tesla’s European sales collapsed 28% in 2025, and German registrations specifically plunged 48% to just 19,390 units. Meanwhile, BYD surged over 1,000% in Germany in January 2026, underscoring the competitive pressure Tesla faces in Europe.

That context matters because it makes Musk’s expansion threat potent even beyond its face value. Workers at a plant that has already shed 1,700 jobs and is running far below capacity have every reason to fear that rocking the boat could cost them more. When the CEO tells you that your factory’s future depends on rejecting the union, and you’ve watched your colleague count shrink by 14% in a year, the calculus changes.

Electrek’s Take

Let’s call this what it is: Tesla successfully scared Giga Berlin workers away from the union.

IG Metall didn’t lose this election because workers suddenly became satisfied with their conditions. The union’s own platform, longer cycle times, adequate breaks, protections for temporary workers, elimination of illness-related pay deductions, addresses real grievances that multiple reports have documented. Tesla ranked dead last among 30 companies in a German reputation study, and the union’s complaints about a “toxic” work environment were backed by specific, documented practices, such as managers visiting sick workers at home.

What changed between 2024 and 2026 wasn’t the working conditions, it was the fear of losing their jobs. Calling police on a union rep, filing criminal complaints, having the CEO personally threaten the factory’s future, distributing anti-union buttons, hosting anti-union concerts, this is a campaign designed to make workers fear the consequences of voting for the union more than they fear the status quo.

And it worked. The 8-percentage-point drop in IG Metall’s vote share, combined with a 6-point decline in turnout, tells the story clearly. Some workers switched sides. Others simply stayed home.

The irony is that Giga Berlin’s problems, overcapacity, collapsing European sales, job cuts, have nothing to do with IG Metall. They’re the result of Tesla’s broader product and brand challenges in Europe, where Elon Musk’s political activities have turned consumers away in droves. A union didn’t cause Tesla’s German registrations to drop 48%. But workers are now paying for those failures twice: once through layoffs, and again through the erosion of their ability to organize for better conditions.