Tesla Shanghai Workers Forced To Live 24/7 At Reopened Factory: Report

Employees at Tesla Inc.’s TSLA reopened Shanghai factory will be forced to live at the worksite under strict health protocols as the Shanghai region continues to main restrictive lockdown policies amid a COVID-19 resurgence.

What Happened: According to a Bloomberg report sourced from unnamed “people familiar with the matter,” the Tesla Shanghai workers are operating in a so-called “closed-loop system” that isolates them at their factory, without access to the surrounding area. However, the manufacturing plant doesn't have dormitory facilities, so workers will be required to sleep on the floor in a designated space — a sleeping bag with a mattress is being provided for all workers.

Bloomberg also cited an internal memo to the Shanghai workforce that said other spaces within the facility are being created for catering, showering and entertainment. All employees will be required to take a nucleic acid test daily for their first three days back at work and to undergo twice-daily temperature checks. An additional hygiene protocol will require employees to wash their hands four times per day.

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What Else Happened: The Tesla Shanghai has a workforce of at least 15,000, but Bloomberg noted those being allowed back to the factory were residents from the Shanghai region’s compounds with the lowest risk of COVID who have already received two shots of the COVID vaccine. Approximately 400 staff members are already at the site.

While the Shanghai facility produces 2,100 electric vehicles per day, primarily for sale within China, regaining its normal production capacity will not come immediately. The plant has been closed since March 28 and Tesla reportedly only has available inventory and staffing for just over two weeks of manufacturing output.

What Didn’t Happen: Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been conspicuously silent about the situation at the Shanghai factory since the plant shut down last month when Shanghai went into lockdown. He has also failed to make any public comment about the well-being of his workers in Shanghai, who are reportedly being told to work 12 hours a day for six days straight with one day off for about $63 per day.

Musk has also not commented on the Chinese government’s enforcement of the lockdown in Shanghai, which has created shortages of food and medicine among the local population who are forcibly confined to their homes. By comparison, Musk — who previously praised China’s Communist Party for creating an “economic prosperity” that he considered to be “truly amazing” — was not shy about criticizing U.S. lockdown policies in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, referring to them as “fascist” while urging officials not to “put everyone under de facto house arrest.”

Photo: Wolfram Burner / Flickr Creative Commons