Last week, Elon Musk, the Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink CEO gave an interview where he called out the unions’ “stranglehold” on the Democrat party, calling it “next-level insanity.”
During the hour-long interview, Musk criticized the Democratic Party, their relationship with labor unions, and Tesla’s exclusion from a White House electric vehicles event because the company is not unionized.
Musk took particular issue with the Democratic Party’s strong relationship with union leadership.
“The general public is not aware of the degree to which unions control the Democratic Party. One does not need to speculate on this point,” Musk started.
Musk’s two largest enterprises, Tesla and SpaceX, are not unionized. Musk attributes this decision not to unionize to the “negative unemployment” in the Bay Area. The employees at either company have multiple other job opportunities they could pursue, Musk claims.
“Last year, Biden held an EV summit where Tesla was explicitly not allowed to come, but the [United Auto Workers] was. So, Tesla has made two-thirds of all the electric vehicles in the United States,” Musk said during his interview.
“So, deliberately excluding us from an EV summit at the White House, but including UAW, tells you everything you need to know,” he said.
The UAW is one of the most well-organized and politically powerful unions in the United States, influencing both political parties.
“They have so much power over the White House that they can exclude Tesla from an EV summit… insane,” said the tech billionaire.
Musk expressed his disdain for President Biden’s choice to praise General Motors (GM) CEO Mary Barra at the summit. Biden touted GM as the leader of the “EV revolution” in a quarter when GM made a mere 26 electric vehicles.
“That’s some next-level insanity,” he said.
During the interview, Musk Highlighted the financial bailout given to GM. He noted that Tesla did not take a bailout and had worked to pay interest on loans used to build his company. He used the example to highlight the government’s bias towards the unionized automaker giant.
He pointed out that the EV tax incentives given to the major automakers are not extended to Tesla either. He notes it as a significant tax advantage to other makers who have failed to capture the market share that Tesla has acquired during its existence.
Musk has made his dislike for the UAW well known in recent months.
He took a swipe at the UAW over embezzlement charges against one of its former officials that was exposed in March.
UAW slogan – “Fighting for the right to embezzle money from auto workers!”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 29, 2022
Musk quipped that UAW’s slogan should be: “Fighting for the right to embezzle money from autoworkers.”
