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FRANKFURT: Germany’s largest trade union said this week it would take Tesla to court as it accused Elon Musk’s electric car maker of intimidating staff in elections for workforce representatives.

AFP has contacted Tesla Germany for comment.

The works council, an elected body of employees that negotiates pay deals and working hours with management, has long been an unshakeable component of German corporate life, especially in the automobile sector.

The IG Metall union, Germany’s largest, earlier this month came second in works council elections at Tesla’s “Gigafactory” outside Berlin, behind the management-aligned “Giga United” list.

IG Metall head Christiane Brenner said the union was going to court to have the results declared invalid.

Brenner alleged that management had restricted IG Metall’s ability to campaign and also told employees that voting for the union threatened both the future of the plant and their jobs.

“The impression that the election at Tesla was influenced by threats is too serious not to be clarified in court,” she said. “Democratic principles must apply to these important democratic elections in this country.”

Labour law expert and activist Ernesto Klengel told AFP this month that, while it was normal for parties to seek to influence works council elections, Tesla had taken an unusual and “highly confrontational approach”.

Tesla has had a tumultuous relationship with the union since opening the factory outside Berlin in 2022. IG Metall last year accused Tesla of withholding employees’ sick pay and of pressuring them to come to work when ill.