Tesla Shanghai factory workers appeal to Elon Musk after being told about bonus cuts

SHANGHAI, April 17 (Reuters) – Workers at Tesla’s ( TSLA.O ) Shanghai factory are taking to social media to appeal to Elon Musk and the Chinese public after being informed over the weekend of planned cuts to their performance bonuses, according to online posts and workers.

Posts from netizens began appearing on forums such as Baidu Tieba late last week. Some took to Twitter, owned by Musk and blocked in China, to tweet at Elon Musk, his mother Maye Musk and Tesla̵[ads1]7;s accounts.

“Please note that the performance (bonus) of front-line workers at Tesla’s Shanghai factory is being deducted arbitrarily,” said a post on Twitter in response to a tweet from Musk about a SpaceX launch.

Two workers told Reuters they were informed by their superiors at the weekend of a cut in their quarterly bonus payments, which are linked to the factory’s performance.

They said Tesla supervisors cited a “security incident” when asked about the reasons for the bonus cut. Several online posts claimed that workers at the Shanghai factory were unfairly punished for an incident this year at a factory in which a worker is said to have died.

A Tesla worker died in an accident on the factory floor earlier this year, four people with knowledge of the incident told Reuters.

Reuters could not independently confirm the details of the accident.

Tesla and Elon Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Reporting by Zhang Yan, Zhuzhu Cui and Brenda Goh; Editing by Tom Hogue

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