Current:Home > Contact-usTesla didn’t squelch United Auto Workers message when it cracked down on T-shirts, court says-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Tesla didn’t squelch United Auto Workers message when it cracked down on T-shirts, court says
View Date:2024-12-23 21:24:02
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Automaker Tesla did not infringe on its workers’ rights to unionize when it ordered employees at a California assembly plant to stop wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the United Auto Workers logo, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a 3-2 decision issued last year by the National Labor Relations Board, which had said Tesla couldn’t prohibit union attire. The court opinion noted that Tesla allowed workers to affix “any number or size” of pro-union stickers to company-issued clothing.
“We may have concluded differently had Tesla prohibited union insignia,” read the opinion issued Tuesday by a unanimous panel of three 5th Circuit judges.
The Associated Press sent emails requesting comment to Tesla and the UAW.
According to the court record, Tesla issued special black clothing with the company name and logo, dubbed “Team Wear,” to employees who worked on autos that had been recently painted. The clothing is issued to help prevent workers from inadvertently causing damage to paint that hasn’t completely cured.
Some employees began wearing UAW shirts as an alternative in 2017, a practice the company cracked down on after several months, according to the opinion.
The NLRB ruled in August 2022 that the practice was an “overly broad” uniform policy and ordered it stopped.
But the appeals panel said the company policy didn’t keep the union from getting its message across to employees.
“The Team Wear policy — or any hypothetical company’s uniform policy — advances a legitimate interest of the employer and neither discriminates against union communication nor affects nonworking time,” Judge Jerry Smith wrote for the panel.
The opinion comes as the 5th Circuit prepares for arguments in another union-related matter involving Tesla, NLRB and the assembly plant in Fremont, California.
A 5th Circuit panel ruled in March that Tesla CEO Elon Musk unlawfully threatened to take away employees’ stock options in a 2018 post on what was then Twitter amid an organizing effort by the UAW. The post was made before Musk bought the platform and renamed it X.
The panel upheld an NLRB order to delete the tweet. But that order was vacated after the full 5th Circuit, currently with 16 full-time judges, voted to hear the matter. A hearing in that case is pending.
The panel that issued this week’s ruling included Smith, nominated to the appeals court by the late President Ronald Reagan; Leslie Southwick, nominated by former President George W. Bush; and Stephen Higginson, nominated by former President Barack Obama.
veryGood! (463)
Related
- NFL playoff picture Week 10: Lions stay out in front of loaded NFC field
- Her name was on a signature petition to be a Cornel West elector. Her question: What’s an elector?
- Phoenix police launch website detailing incidents included in scathing DOJ report
- Bronze statue of John Lewis replaces more than 100-year-old Confederate monument
- 'He's driving the bus': Jim Harbaugh effect paying dividends for Justin Herbert, Chargers
- Watch Taylor Swift perform 'London Boy' Oy! in Wembley Stadium
- Texas Rodeo Roper Ace Patton Ashford Dead at 18 After Getting Dragged by Horse
- UFC 305 results: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya fight card highlights
- King Charles III celebrates 76th birthday amid cancer battle, opens food hubs
- Tropical Storm Ernesto sends powerful swells, rip currents to US East Coast
Ranking
- Ryan Reynolds Clarifies Taylor Swift’s Role as Godmother to His Kids With Blake Lively
- What the VP picks says about what Harris and Trump want for America's kids
- Pumpkin spice: Fall flavor permeates everything from pies to puppy treats
- Elephant calf born at a California zoo _ with another on the way
- Stock market today: Asian stocks dip as Wall Street momentum slows with cooling Trump trade
- Save Big at Banana Republic Factory With $12 Tanks, $25 Shorts & $35 Dresses, Plus up to 60% off Sitewide
- No. 1 brothers? Ethan Holliday could join Jackson, make history in 2025 MLB draft
- Indiana Jones’ iconic felt fedora fetches $630,000 at auction
Recommendation
-
New Yorkers vent their feelings over the election and the Knicks via subway tunnel sticky notes
-
Jailed Chinese activist faces another birthday alone in a cell, his wife says
-
Premier League highlights: Arsenal and Liverpool win season's opening Saturday
-
‘Alien: Romulus’ bites off $41.5 million to top box office charts
-
USMNT Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal Leg 1 vs. Jamaica: Live stream and TV, rosters
-
Jonathan Bailey's Fate on Bridgerton Season 4 Revealed
-
Thousands of activists expected in Chicago for Democratic convention to call for Gaza ceasefire
-
Taylor Swift shows off a new 'Midnights' bodysuit in Wembley