MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Too many overburdened Tesla workers in Germany on sick leave

“The survey shows how critical the workload at Tesla is,” union leader Dirk Schulze complained

While leaders at a Tesla plant in Grünheide (Germany) -near Berlin- complained about the high number of employees under sick leave, the trade union spoke of a “shockingly” critical workload resulting in these health problems and has a survey to back that up. “The results are shocking and make me angry,” said Dirk Schulze, head of the IG Metall Berlin-Brandenburg district.

 According to the survey, 83% of Tesla employees often or very often feel overburdened by the amount of work they have to do while only 14% said they rarely feel overworked and 3% said they never felt overworked. Only 10% percent of those surveyed said that they would be able to endure the current work situation until retirement.

In addition, 9 out of 10 workers complained of headaches, neck, joint, or back pain. “The survey shows how critical the workload at Tesla is. The plant management must not ignore these figures,” Schulze insisted.

The survey also suggested possible solutions, including an additional paid break or longer weekend, a proposal that was welcomed by four out of five respondents. Only 4% percent were against changes in the shift system.

The plant's management had complained not so long ago about a 15% sickness rate and sometimes higher. Hence, it arranged for unannounced home visits to employees on sick leave in the summer, which was criticized by IG Metall. Around 12,000 people work in the factory.