“I’m really tired of approving orders to buy more coffee cups.”
Mug of Death
Aside from union busting and underplaying environmental concerns, Tesla’s operations in Germany are dealing with yet another crisis: tens of thousands of coffee mugs mysteriously vanishing.
As German news agency Deutsche Welle reports, managers have had to order a ludicrous number of them over the years.
“I’m just going to give you a figure,” Gigafactory Berlin plant manager Andre Thierig told employees during a recent staff meeting. “We’ve bought 65,000 coffee mugs since we started production here. 65,000!”
“Statistically speaking, each of you already has five Ikea coffee cups at home,” he added. “I’m really tired of approving orders to buy more coffee cups,” threatening to remove all cutlery from break rooms.
Nice Cuppa
While Thierig’s remarks garnered him a lively reaction from the crowd, stolen coffee mugs are only the tip of the iceberg. The factory in the German state of Brandenburg has been embroiled in controversy even before construction began in 2022.
Back in 2020, for instance, the local government announced that it’d received a whopping 406 objections to the plant’s construction.
Residents even took to the streets, protesting the clearing of a large number of trees and a massive strain on local drinking water supplies and quality.
Earlier this year, the factory had to be shut down and evacuated after a suspected arson attack left the site without power, an incident the company later used to explain a massive drop in year-over-year sales.
A month later, a swarm of masked protesters broke down a fence and stormed the grounds, highlighting widespread displeasure with Tesla’s plans to expand its operations.
“Companies like Tesla are there to save the car industry, they’re not there to save the climate,” anti-Tesla group Turn Off the Tap spokesperson Esther Kamm told Wired at the time.
Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has attempted to attract talent by building a “mega rave cave.” The nightclub opened its doors last week.
But whether those efforts will be enough to convince them remains to be seen. The company has actively fought against its Berlin-based employees from unionizing. While the majority of workers voted against union representatives of the powerful industry union IG Metall in March, the union has made significant progress, as Electrek reported earlier this month.
In short, Tesla workers have already had to deal with mass layoffs, notoriously unsafe working conditions, rampant discrimination, and low pay.
At least in Germany, they get to take a mug or three home for their troubles.
More on Tesla Berlin: Protesters Break Fence, Swarm Tesla Gigafactory
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