COMING TO A LAUNCH PAD NEAR YOU: OUTSIDE LABOR WOES

(Ed.'s Note: After receiving $1 billion in incentives from the State of Nevada for Tesla's Elon Musk to build a battery plant, local labor leaders are saying the billionaire is using loopholes to fill labor slots with out side, cheaper, labor. Locally, the political leadership from the Governor's mansion to the city commission have embraced Musk's SpaceX lured by promises of good-paying jobs for local workers and gave Musk $25 million in "incentives.". The siren song has attracted many, including city commissioner Jessica Tetreau who plunked down some hard cash to get a used electric Tesla car. There are some similarities between Musk and Tetreau's concept of labor management, since the commissioner has been fined before for not paying workers at her car wash a decent wage. Is Brownsville (and Harlingen) in for a rude awakening from Musk as well? Consider that Sparks is approximately 1,100 miles away from New Mexico. Is Brownsville also going to lose those high paying jobs to our partners in Mexico just across the river?)

SPARKS, Nev. — Hundreds of union construction workers walked off the job at Tesla Motors' battery manufacturing plant in northern Nevada on Monday to protest what union organizers say is the increased hiring of out-of-state workers for less pay.

Approximately 350 plumbers, carpenters, electricians, painters and others walked away from the construction site Monday along U.S. Interstate 80 about 25 miles east of Reno, said Russell James, District 16 business development specialist for the Building and Construction Trades Council of Northern Nevada.

More than 100 picketed outside the main gate against what they say is an unfair labor practice that undermines promises to hire mostly Nevada workers in exchange for more than $1 billion in state tax breaks, James said.

"It's corporate welfare at its worst," he told The Associated Press.

Union officials said work at Tesla's gigafactory is increasingly being done by crews for the non-union, New Mexico-based Brycon Corp.

"Nevada's tax dollars should be used to provide jobs for Nevada construction workers, not New Mexico construction workers," said Ted Koch, president of the northern Nevada council.

Tesla said in a statement that the electric car-maker is in compliance with all state requirements. It said many of the contractors at the site are union, but "the one at issue is not."

"The union is ... claiming that this contractor is somehow favoring out of state workers. In reality, more than 50 percent of the workers used by this contractor and more than 75 percent of the entire gigafactory workforce are Nevada residents, demonstrating the project's strong commitment to Nevada," the company statement said.

The incentive package allows in some cases for Tesla to hire more out-of-state workers if not enough skilled workers are available in Nevada. But James insisted that's not the case.

"They say it's because there are not enough workers in state to fill the jobs, but we have all kinds of workers available. They simply are going out of state because they can pay them less money," James said Monday. "Most of the guys from out of state probably have no health insurance and no pension benefits, so that alone could be a difference of $10 an hour even if you pay the same wages."

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http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/hundreds-tesla-workers-walk-job-nevada-labor-dispute-n528426