Austin, November 16 (RHC)-- Construction workers at a Tesla auto “gigafactory” in Austin, Texas, have filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor over unsafe working conditions and wage theft.
One whistleblower said their employer provided fake credentials in lieu of giving workers essential training about the job. Others say they were not compensated at all or did not receive earned overtime.
One worker -- identified as “Victor” -- told The Guardian he and his colleagues were ordered to keep working in a flooded area that was covered in live wiring, prompting Victor to tell his wife: “I’m going to die in this factory.”
Other locations of Elon Musk’s Tesla factories have been repeatedly cited for worker rights violations and hazardous conditions.
In other labor news, a major cleaning company in the United States is being accused of using child labor on graveyard shifts at slaughterhouses.
The U.S. Labor Department says Packers Sanitation Services, Inc. employed at least 31 children — the youngest just 13 years old — at three JBS meat plants in Nebraska and Minnesota and that the company likely employs far more children across its 400 other locations.