Car manufacturer Tesla’s ban on wearing union T-shirts at its main factory in Fremont, California, is not a violation of US labor law. An appeals court in New Orleans has overturned a decision last year by the American labor regulator NLBR, which had ruled the T-shirt ban illegal. The NLBR only wanted to allow an exception under special circumstances, such as safety concerns.
Tesla requires employees to wear the company’s black jerseys with the Tesla logo at work. According to the ruling, the ban on advertising the United Auto Workers union on clothing is fine because it also allows the display of UAW stickers of any number and size. The automaker, known to be anti-union, introduced uniforms at work in 2017 when the UAW tried to recruit members at its factory. The justification for the “teamwear” policy was that it was necessary to ensure that cars were not damaged during assembly.
The union has accused Tesla of various unlawful tactics to prevent employees from organizing. Tesla denied this. Another NLRB decision is pending before the appeals court, according to which Tesla boss Elon Musk violated federal labor law in 2018. At that time, he threatened via Twitter (now X) that employees would lose their stock options if they joined a union.