Elon Musk is an interesting guy. He'll very often take to Twitter to voice his opinions on shelter-in-place restrictions or certain rescue divers, but when his employees actually want him to say something -- specifically that Black Lives Matter -- his voice is nowhere to be heard.
That's enough for a group of Tesla's Fremont factory employees to stage a protest against Musk's silence and to commemorate Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the US, by holding a rally at Fremont factory, according to a report published by Protocol on Thursday.
Please come out and support pic.twitter.com/ln0BvlVBpa
— Blm (@Blm05878309) June 11, 2020
There have been internal statements made by other high-level Tesla employees, such as its North American head of human resources, Valerie Workman. Workman published a letter to Tesla employees and later in a post on LinkedIn titled Bringing My Whole Self to Work at Tesla, which talks about the realities of being Black in America.
"Fearing for the lives of my husband and sons is a constant nagging undercurrent that I suppress so that I can go about my day (just as my mother, my grandmother and my great-grandmother learned to live with this fact of life)," Workman writes in her letter. "Despite being a proponent of bringing your whole self to work, I never discuss this part of my life in the office."
Despite this openness from executive staff, Tesla's employees of color want some reassurance from their larger-than-life leader that not only does he stand against racism, but that he stands with them. At this point, it seems doubtful that they'll get it.
Tesla’s head of US HR sent an email to employees this morning saying they could take Juneteenth off. Some employees were already at work by the time they received the email. Then she clarified that it’s unpaid time off. pic.twitter.com/oTO3dV0RBH
— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) June 19, 2020
On June 19, however, an email surfaced via Twitter from Workman who told workers they may have the day off to "celebrate, reflect or participate in events" meaningful to staff. According to the tweet, this email allegedly came after some workers already reported for their shifts. Further, Workman followed up clarifying those who take the day will not be paid.
Tesla didn't immediately respond to Roadshow's request for comment.
First published June 18.
Update, June 19: Adds new information from Tesla's head of HR.