Missing coffee mugs and union unrest plague Tesla's Berlin plant

Several tens of thousands of coffee mugs have disappeared in the Tesla electric car factory in Germany. Conflict also escalates between management and the IG Metall union.

The American electric car manufacturer Tesla is facing a problem with tens of thousands of missing coffee mugs at its factory in Grünheide, southeast of Berlin. According to the economic newspaper Handelsblatt and the DPA news agency, 65,000 such mugs have gone missing.

At an employee meeting, plant manager André Thierig addressed this issue. "Statistically speaking, each of you already has five coffee mugs from Ikea at home," Handelsblatt quotes Thierig's words, citing a recording from the plant meeting. I'm really tired of approving orders for more mugs," added Thierig, which caused laughter and applause. He also announced that there would be no cutlery in the break rooms if the thefts did not stop.

However, the issue of mugs was just one of many contentious topics on the employee meeting agenda, during which some members of the workforce and management clashed with the IG Metall union.

The Tesla gigafactory in Grünheide had raised many controversies long before the theft of tens of thousands of coffee mugs and the latest elections to the works council. Almost immediately after Germany beat out bids from at least eight other EU countries in the race for Tesla's first European factory in 2019, criticism began to grow regarding the environmental impact of the factory's construction. This included the deforestation of hundreds of acres and concerns about groundwater pollution.

Soon after production began in 2022, the German magazine Stern published an article revealing serious violations of employee health and safety regulations and environmental protection laws. The report showed that the Tesla factory recorded three times more emergencies than a similar Audi car factory in Ingolstadt.

In 2024, the plant became the site of protests by environmental organizations against its planned expansion, which was ultimately approved after a long political battle.

Recently, pressure from Elon Musk for Tesla plants worldwide to reduce employment by 10 percent resulted in the dismissal of many fixed-term and part-time employees and raised questions about how much the factory intends to contribute to Germany's long-term economic growth as promised.

Although the Grünheide plant reduced employment by only about 2 percent, works council member Uwe Fischer told "Handelsblatt" that "considerable pressure" was exerted on employees to accept the "attractive offer" of voluntary departure.

According to IG Metall union secretary Jannes Bojert, Tesla employees are experiencing extreme pressure, intimidation, and frustration due to the number of accidents on the factory premises. Michaela Schmitz, who was recently re-elected as chair of the Works Council, challenged this opinion at the employee meeting. She argued that IG Metall exerts excessive influence on its members to agitate among employees.

The IG Metall secretary, in turn, accused Tesla owner Elon Musk, management, and other employees of fomenting anti-union sentiments, which he described as "unconstitutional." According to the unionist, a strike is "a last resort," but given the current moods in the factory, he did not rule it out.