The works council election at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Grünheide has resulted in a victory for the union-independent list Giga United, which received nearly 41% of the vote, according to preliminary results.
The list, led by current works council chair Michaela Schmitz, emerged as the largest faction in the election, ahead of the IG Metall-aligned list Tesla Workers GFFB, which secured around 31% of votes.
Despite not holding an outright majority, non-union lists are expected to control most seats on the new works council. Preliminary figures indicate that about 24 of the 37 seats will go to candidates without union affiliation.
The election had been closely watched in Germany as a test of union influence at Tesla’s European manufacturing operations.
In the previous works council election in 2024, IG Metall obtained around 40% of the vote, making it the largest faction at the time, though it did not secure a majority.
This year’s vote followed a period of tensions between Tesla management and the union. The dispute intensified after an incident during a works council meeting in which an external IG Metall representative was accused of recording audio on a laptop.
Following the incident, Tesla plant manager André Thierig and IG Metall’s regional organization for Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony exchanged public accusations and threatened legal action.
The debate surrounding the election also gained wider attention after Tesla chief executive Elon Musk suggested that the outcome could influence potential future expansion of the company’s German factory.
In comments posted on LinkedIn after the vote, Thierig said turnout was close to 90%, significantly higher than in the previous election.
He said the results indicated strong interest among employees in the works council election and interpreted the outcome as a signal that workers favored union-independent representation.
IG Metall, which has campaigned for a collective bargaining agreement at the Grünheide plant, described its result as significant despite the outcome. The union said its Tesla Workers GFFB list remained the second-strongest faction.
According to reports cited by Handelsblatt, the Giga United list is expected to receive about 16 seats on the 37-member works council, while IG Metall would hold around 13 seats.
A third faction, known as the Polish Initiative, received about 8.3% of the vote and is expected to secure three seats, with the remaining seats distributed among several smaller lists.
The newly elected works council is expected to convene soon, with Schmitz widely anticipated to be re-elected as chair for a third term.
