Elon Musk’s Tesla wants police action against German trade union member, says: He was secretly trying to record…

Tesla has filed a criminal complaint against a member of Germany's IG Metall trade union. A report by the news agency Reuters cited an internal company memo to claim that the Elon Musk-led EV maker has accused the German trade union representative of trying to secretly record a meeting at the company's factory near Berlin.

Earlier this week, the external IG Metall representative, who was participating in a Tesla works council meeting as a guest, was spotted recording the gathering on their laptop; local company management said in a memo to staff, seen by Reuters.According to the Reuters report, the union member was excluded from the meeting, which had been convened to discuss issues affecting the 11,000 employees at the German factory, and police confiscated the computer, the memo said.

In a written message to staff, Tesla management said that this week’s works council meeting was not held in public and that recording non-public statements with a device is a crime under German law.

However, the IG Metall external representative accused of attempting to record the meeting secretly was not named in the memo or by the union.

German trade union says Tesla’s allegation is a lie

In a statement to Reuters, IG Metall described Tesla's statement as a "calculated lie" ahead of works council elections scheduled for March, repeating that plant management wanted to keep the union at bay in favour of an obedient labour representation.

At the last works council elections two years ago, the majority of Tesla's staff in Germany chose not to join the IG Metall Union and opted for a non-unionised works council.The criminal complaint marks the latest escalation in tensions between local Tesla management in Germany and IG Metall ahead of key elections to the works council next month. IG Metall, Germany's industrial union, is campaigning to gain control of the works council at what is Tesla's only European factory.

The carmaker's plant is the only vehicle factory in Germany where wages are not set through a collective bargaining agreement.

However, IG Metall failed to secure a majority on the works council in the 2024 elections, despite receiving the most votes among employees. A coalition of independent groups leads the workers' body. Gaining a majority on the works council would represent a step towards IG Metall's aim to negotiate a pay deal for employees at Tesla's German factory.

IG Metall accused Tesla of using the criminal complaint as an election manoeuvre.

"Influencing elections with fabricated accusations reminds us of the tactics of authoritarian regimes,"regional IG Metall chief Jan Otto told the Financial Times. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive, has been a critic of unionisation. Tesla has also been involved in a dispute with unions in Sweden since 2023 over its refusal to sign a collective bargaining agreement with mechanics.

In the US, it has been accused of alleged anti-union conduct. Tesla's German management has argued that a union-negotiated agreement on wages and working hours would undermine the company's competitiveness, as many carmakers in the country are cutting jobs amid high production costs.

André Thierig, manager of Tesla's Germany factory, told the press agency DPA late last year that he could not "imagine that the decision makers in the USA will continue to push ahead with the expansion of the factory if the election results are majority in favour of IG Metall". The frictions with the trade unions come at a time when Tesla is reeling under the impact of falling sales of cars, notably in Europe, where the company has come under criticism for the political activities of Musk, especially his support for far-right parties like Alternative for Germany.Last year, Tesla lost its global position as the top electric-car maker to Chinese manufacturer BYD after the US company's sales declined 9% to 1.6 million vehicles. The drop was larger for the European market, where Tesla sales fell 27% to 239,000 units in 2025, according to ACEA, a European trade body for the car industry. Currently, Tesla's German factory produces about 5,000 units a week, according to management statements, which is equivalent to about 250,000 cars a year.