Today, Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz issued the following statement pursuant to the Tesla Buffalo Gigafactory plant abruptly firing thirty employees who had been seeking to form a union. The employees had announced their plans to unionize on Tuesday and received an email informing them of their termination on Wednesday night.

Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz said, “I was shocked to learn Tesla fired 30 workers today after Tesla Workers United began organizing efforts at Tesla's Buffalo Gigafactory. I have always stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the men and women of organized labor and do so today with the fired workers.

It is unacceptable for any employer to fire workers who are pursuing better working conditions for themselves and their families, and it is even more egregious in the case of a multi-billion-dollar corporation such as Tesla.

These terminations send the message that Tesla has no respect for labor or their workforce and, even worse, has no interest in providing a workplace in which employees feel valued and heard. Even more egregiously, these terminations occurred at a facility that received millions of dollars in assistance from New York, a facility supported by the state for the sole purpose of creating good paying jobs for Erie County residents.

These firings are wrong and Tesla must immediately reinstate these employees to their positions.”