100 workers walk out at Tesla Gigafactory work site

To build its Gigafactory in Nevada, Tesla is employing both local and out-of-state workers. When the state government approved $1.2 billion in tax breaks for the electric automaker, Bill SB1 said that the company needed at least 50 percent of the workers hired to come from within the state. Right from the beginning, local unions were concerned that this would not be followed.

Tesla says that more than 50 percent of the people it has hired are Nevada residents, but today about 100 workers at the Gigafactory site walked off the job in protest that Tesla has hired out-of-state workers. More accurately, the out-of-state workers (mostly from Arizona and New Mexico) were hired by Tesla contractor Brycon Corp.

Todd Koch, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Northern Nevada, told Bloomberg that, "It's a slap in the face to Nevada workers to walk through the parking lot at the job site and see all these license plates from Arizona and New Mexico."

Tesla released the following statement to AutoblogGreen:

Today's activity stems from the local Carpenters Union protesting against one of the third party construction contractors that Tesla is using at the Gigafactory. Their issue is not with how Tesla treats its workers. Their issue is that of the many third party contractors that are involved in the construction of the Gigafactory, many are union but the one at issue is not. The union is also claiming that this contractor is somehow favoring out of state workers. In reality, more than 50% of the workers used by this contractor and more than 75% of the entire Gigafactory workforce are Nevada residents, demonstrating the project's strong commitment to Nevada.

See more in the local TV report below.