In Texas alone, Tesla will compete with a General Motors plant in Arlington that has maintained excellent, middle-class United Auto Workers-represented jobs for decades. We support good jobs and community benefits, but when taxpayers are asked to pay up, the price and enforcement of company promises matter — not just here, but everywhere. We ask Travis County to negotiate an agreement that does right by working families and the entire community. Tesla’s treatment of workers is cause for concern. For example, an administrative law judge in California ruled the company behaved illegally in trying to stop employees from speaking up together through UAW. Such behavior is not a good omen for working people in Travis County who will be expected to put in long hours under intense pressure to perform.

Tesla has received billions of taxpayer dollars over the years in several states, yet the company has often shown disregard for the communities where they’re located. Just recently, Tesla thumbed its nose at the Alameda County Health Department and re-opened its Fremont, CA assembly plant despite the county’s shutdown order. Now there are confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the plant.

If billionaires are given millions of our tax dollars, what guarantees will our community get? It’s not like Elon Musk is short on funds. In an eleven week period from mid-March to early June, while millions of Americans lost their jobs, Musk’s wealth increased by $14.1 billion!

A coalition of unions and community groups are demanding that the County require Tesla to agree to a set of Community Assurances – things like permanent, full time jobs, good wages and benefits; recruitment and hiring from the community, especially from minority and disadvantaged groups; paid sick leave; and preservation of natural areas.

Sign our petition! Take a stand and demand corporate accountability. Let local officials know we need real, guaranteed benefits in return for our tax dollars.