Elon Musk and unions

Elon Musk has commented negatively on trade unions[1] and has clashed with workers at companies he owns including Tesla, SpaceX, and X Corp. (formerly Twitter).

In 2025, Musk was appointed by president Trump to head the Department of Government Efficiency, which was opposed by several trade unions.

[2] The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) had 24 open investigations into Musk's companies Tesla, SpaceX, and X Corp. (formerly Twitter) as of January 2025[update].

[9] The AFL-CIO sued the Department of Labor on February 5,[10] to prevent DOGE from accessing its internal IT system, a request that was declined by US District Judge John Bates two days later, because the AFL-CIO failed to show actual harm from the Department of Labor.

[14] In Germany, Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg and Tesla Automation have elected works councils, but they have not signed collective bargaining agreements with the German trade union IG Metall.