[Update: The Intercept updated its report, noting that X confirmed that a policy to temporarily remove checkmarks from verified accounts that change their profile pictures was the issue here. UAW told The Intercept that their account’s profile picture was updated in conjunction with the walkout.]
Last night when the clock struck midnight, nearly 13,000 workers at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis went on strike after the so-called “Big Three” car companies failed to reach an agreement with United Auto Workers (UAW). By Friday morning, UAW discovered that X, the platform formerly known as Twitter—in what appeared to be a petty move by platform owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk—had stripped their account’s verified status, The Intercept reported.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The move seemingly makes it harder for UAW to maximize reach for its posts on X, just as workers have begun striking, demanding better wages and other benefits.
UAW’s negotiations also seek to expand benefits for union workers involved “in the production of electric vehicles and the batteries needed to power them,” The Intercept reported, and those conversations could also impact Tesla operations.
Last year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered Tesla to revise its policies “to make clear that it does not prohibit production associates from wearing black union shirts.”
There was also tension earlier this year when Tesla Autopilot Buffalo-based workers tried to unionize, alleging that they were being treated “like robots” and pressured to skip bathroom breaks.
And most recently in April, the NLRB again ruled that Tesla violated labor laws when managers at an Orlando repair shop illegally silenced workers attempting to discuss pay and working conditions, Reuters reported.
In the moments after X reinstated UAW’s verification, the union began posting in support of strikers in Ohio and Missouri, some of them chanting, “No justice, no jeeps!”
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