National Labor Relations Board files complaint against Buffalo Tesla facility

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against the Tesla facility in South Buffalo, accusing the automotive company of using strategies to keep employees from unionizing.

The complaint, which was filed in February by the board's regional director, accuses Tesla of using an unlawful policy for using technology in the workplace. The complaint says that includes restricting technology use, such as email and sharing content, to "business purposes only."

The organization says that policy takes power away from employees so they can't form, join, or help a union.

Tesla is already set to lay off hundreds of its employees at the South Buffalo plant. In April, it filed a notice stating its intentions to lay off nearly 300 employees. In a second notice filed last week, it stated that it planned to lay off another 26 employees. Those layoffs come as the company plans to lay off around 10% of its workforce. Between the two notices, the 311 total employees Tesla plans to lay off is just over 15% of its Buffalo workforce.

If the parties are unable to settle this new complaint, they will have to stand before an NLRB administrative law judge in July.