Daily Archives: April 2, 2021

In its March 25decision, the NLRB unanimously held that: (1) Tesla violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) after prohibiting employees from talking to the media; (2) Tesla didnotviolate the Act by calling employees into a meeting to discuss their potential unionization; and (3) Tesla must order CEO Elon Musk to delete his tweet about the employees attempt to unionize, as it was unlawfully coercive in violation of the Act.

In 2016, Tesla required its employees to sign a confidentiality agreement in response to leaks of confidential company information. As part of the agreement, Tesla reminded its employees that it is never OK to communicate with the media or someone closely related to the media about Tesla, unless [the employee has] been specifically authorized in writing to do so.

Here, the Administrative Law Judge found that the confidentiality agreement was lawful because considering that it was sent in response to leaks of confidential information, employees would reasonably interpret the agreement to apply only to proprietary information. Further, the Judge found that any potential interference with Section 7 rights was outweighed by Teslas interest in protecting such confidential information.

In 2017, the NLRB set a new standard for determining whether facially neutral work rules or policies would unlawfully interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in violation of Section 7 of the NLRA. InBoeing Co., 365 NLRB No. 154 (2017), the Board held that: [W]hen evaluating a facially neutral policy, rule or handbook provision that, when reasonably interpreted, would potentially interfere with the exercise of NLRA rights, the Board will evaluate two things: (i) the nature and extent of the potential impact on NLRA rights,and(ii) legitimate justifications associated with the rule. In conducting this balancing test, the Board considers the rule or policy from the employees perspective. If the balance favors general employer interests, the rule or policy will be deemed lawful, but if the potential interference with Section 7 rights outweighs any possible employer justification, the rule will be deemed unlawful.

The Board applied theBoeingstandard for facially-neutral work rules and reversed the ALJ, and held that the provision in the agreement that prohibited employees from talking to the media without permission was unlawful in violation of Section 8(a)(1). The Board applied prior precedent and found that the language in the media-contact provision applied to information beyond what the confidentiality agreement defined to be confidential information, even if read in conjunction with the introduction explaining that the policy was created in response to leaked information.

The Board held that [t]hat general statement d[id] not change the meaning of the plain language of the media-contact provision, which employees would reasonably interpret to apply to communications with the media about any matter regarding [Tesla], including working conditions, labor disputes, or other terms and conditions of employment.

Additionally, because the provision did not include language limiting the restrictions to statements made to the mediaon behalfof Tesla, and required prior approval for any statements whatsoever, it clearly infringed on the employees Section 7 rights. Teslas justification for attempting such restriction did not outweigh the right of its employees to communicate with the media about labor disputes and their terms and conditions of employmenta concept central to the Actand, as such, Tesla violated Section 8(a)(1) by maintaining such a provision.

In 2017, a Tesla employee sent a petition to HR and to CEO Elon Musk, discussing the safety concerns of many employees and noting their intent to form a union in order to protect themselves and ensure their safety. Shortly after circulating the petition, HR brought the employee to a conference room with Musk, seeking to directly discuss the employees safety concerns. During the meeting, the employee noted that he thought a union would help give the employees a voice. Musk responded, [Y]ou dont really have a voice. The [Union] is a secondlike two-class system where [the Union] is the only one that has a voice and not the workers.

First,the Board found that the meeting with Musk didnotviolate Section 8(a)(1), as Tesla did not unlawfully solicit the employees safety concerns and impliedly promise to remedy them. The meeting was a result of the employees petition that had been sent directly to HR and Musk, and was an attempt to understandably learn more about the serious safety concerns alleged in the petition. Further, the petition did not detail any specific hazards and there was no explicit or implicit promise to remedy the safety concerns. As such, the meeting could not be categorized as an unlawful solicitation of grievances.

Second,the Board concluded that Musks statement was lawful because an employer may criticize, disparage, or denigrate a union without running afoul of Section 8(a)(1), as long as the employer does not threaten an employees Section 7 rights. Musk did not imply that Tesla would use unlawful means to ensure the employees were unable to unionize, and simply explained one effect of unionizationthat employees would take up any grievances with Teslathroughthe Union, who would speak on their behalf.

Even though the Board found that Tesla did not violate the act by calling an employee into a meeting to discuss unionization, the Board affirmed the ALJs finding that Musks subsequent tweet on May 20, 2018to approximately 22 million of his followerswas unlawfully coercive: Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare. The Board agreed that Musks commentary lost the protection of the Act because it amounted to a threat that employees would lose their stock options if they unionized; it was not a prediction carefully phrased based on objective fact[s] of what may occur as the result of good-faith collective bargaining. As part of its decision, the Board ordered Tesla to have Musk delete his unlawful tweet and take steps to ensure he complies.

This decision instructively highlights the pitfalls with public communications on social media by the employer and supervisors in response to unionization, reaffirming the principle that while employers have a right to free speech during an organizing campaign, that right must be exercised in a manner that is not overly coercive. The Board held that Musks tweet, to his 22 million followers, was unlawful principally because of the reference to the fact that Tesla employees would give up stock options for nothing. This was construed as a threatwhich is unlawfulrather than a potential consequence of good-faith collective bargaining negotiations if a Union were selected by the employees, which could have been lawful. A fine distinction can be drawn based on the manner in which the statement is phrased and the surrounding context.

In addition, this decision reinforces that employers may lawfully restrict employees from talking to the media about proprietary information, but such provisions must be carefully crafted to ensure that they do not infringe on employees Section 7 rights. Employers should take care in ensuring that they do not categorically restrict employees from talking to the media without prior authorization.

2020 Proskauer Rose LLP. National Law Review, Volume XI, Number 91

Link:

Elon Musk Ordered to Delete Union Tweet and Eliminate Policies - The National Law Review

Starship prototype SN9 before its fateful launch in Texas earlier this year.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has a vision for the company's presence in Texas where it's rapidly building (and rapidly exploding) Starship spacecraft prototypes. He sees the area, which he has unofficially named Starbase, growing by several thousand people over the next couple of years.

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Musk put out a plea on Tuesday for engineers, technicians and builders to relocate to Texas and join SpaceX. "Please consider moving to Starbase or greater Brownsville/South Padre area in Texas and encourage friends to do so!" Musk tweeted.

Musk called for "essential support personnel of all kinds." A quick scan of open positions for Brownsville shows SpaceX is looking to hire plenty of engineers, but also cooks, safety technicians, welders, security officers, managers and crane operators.

SpaceX didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

From the lab to your inbox. Get the latest science stories from CNET every week.

Musk also said in a tweet Tuesdaythat he plans to donate $20 million to Cameron County schools and $10 million to nearby Brownsville to help revitalize the city's downtown. He promised more details next week.

The City of Brownsville Twitter account cheered the news, tweeting in response, "On the border, by the sea and beyond! Grateful for your support in making Brownsville a launching pad to Mars."

The series of tweets about hiring and donations came on the same daySpaceX's latest Starship prototype, SN11, exploded during a test flight. SpaceX is still trying to keep its test vehicles from blowing up during flight or shortly after landing. SN11's demise appeared to scatter debris across a wide area.

There have been plenty of indications that Musk and SpaceX intend to turn a chunk of Texas into a teaming hub of space activity. Besides development and test flights, the company seems to haveambitions for creating a "21st century Spaceport" resort in Texas.

If all goes as planned, SpaceX's Starbase might truly earn its sci-fi-inspired name.

FollowCNET's 2021 Space Calendarto stay up to date with all the latest space news this year. You can even add it to your own Google Calendar.

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Elon Musk calls for engineers, workers to move to Texas for SpaceX - CNET

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An experimental rocket that SpaceX launched at its South Texas facilities Tuesday appears to have exploded, but heavy fog at the landing site left even SpaceX uncertain about what had occurred.

At least the crater is in the right place! SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted.

All three of SpaceXs previous prototypes crash landed or exploded shortly after landing.

SpaceX engineer John Insprucker, who hosted a webcast of the test launch, said SN11 had a normal ascent and all appeared to be well before on-board cameras lost signal and the vehicle was subsumed by fog moments before landing. Insprucker said the company will share updates on social media once SpaceX engineers are able to check out the landing site. The area surrounding the vehicle must be cleared before liftoff for safety reasons.

Insprucker said the company is not expecting to recover video footage. Dont wait for landing, he advised webcast viewers.

Independent video streamers that recorded the flight did not capture the last stretch of the flight either due to fog, but NASASpaceflight a media site reported that one of the news outlets cameras may have been struck by debris from the rocket. Footage of the launch pad showed SN11 was nowhere in sight after the rockets descent.

SN11 is an early iteration of Starship, the vehicle that Musk envisions will one day carry the first humans to Mars. Its also the fourth prototype that SpaceX has launched on a high-altitude test flight as the company works to hash out how the massive vehicle will safely land upright after returning to Earth.

SN10, the last prototype to fly, landed upright earlier this month but independent footage of the event showed the vehicle exploded about three minutes later.

Original post:

Elon Musk on SpaceX SN11 Mars rocket prototype test: 'At least the crater is in the right place!' | NewsChannel 3-12 - KEYT

At the ripe age of 90, William Shatner has boldly gone where few nonagenarians have gone before: playing the lead in a romantic comedy film.

Yes, the Canadian acting icon, best known as Captain James Tiberius Kirk in the Star Trek television series and films, has traded in the Starship Enterprise for a vintage Porsche in Senior Moment, a sweet little movie that sees Shatners lifelong cad fall for a coffee shop owner (Jean Smart, lovely as always) in Palm Springs. Its the type of old school rom-com that has fast gone out of stylea harmless jaunt that allows the Rocket Man crooner with the inimitable delivery to exhibit his softer side.

And Shatner has kept incredibly busy during the pandemic. Hes been raising money for charity, manning his podcast, filming his History Channel series The UnXplained, recording a new spoken-word album, and trolling Star Wars fans on Twitter (as is his wont). Hes also sold tens of thousands of NFTs (non-fungible tokens, or digital collectible items on a blockchain) and dabbled in artificial intelligence.

The fact that you can say youre alive is very good, Shatner tells me over Zoom. Over the course of our nearly hour-long chat, we discussed everything from Star Trek and his thoughts on Elon Musk to his personal battle with anti-Semitism.

How have you been passing the time during all this craziness?

Oh, very actively. Ive got all kinds of things happening. I hate to say it because its so antithetical to what a lot of people are doing, but for me, Ive got a big house, Ive been able to move around, and Im seeing movies and all that. In addition to that, Im working on a lot of projects, including the new album. Were calling it Love, Death, and Horses.

Is that a spoken-word album?

Well, thats an interesting question and Im soliciting opinions, because what Im trying to do is find a middle road. Its not quite spoken and not quite sungits somewhere in between. But the label wants to release the album before the Grammys of next year in order to make it eligible for spoken-word album. My argument is: Theres so much music in what Im doing that its somewhere between a song and a spoken word, and Id rather get a Grammy for a song! [Laughs]

You created a new genre.

In a way it is! The tragedy is I cant sing, but I do have a sense of the rhythm, the meter, and the poetry of lyrics. So, thats where I stand. This is going to be an extraordinary album, Love, Death, and Horses. And then Ive got a wonderful show, The UnXplained, on The History Channel that was just picked up for a third season. I also just did something thats so unusual, and Im going to explain it to you. A technical groupIm now part of the companywe went to the studio, following SAG regulations, and they surrounded me with maybe a hundred cameras for 3D, then had an artificial-intelligence mechanism recording me, and I spent five days answering questions. The artificial-intelligence mechanism then processed it, and you can ask me questions, press a button, and the AI will have me speak the answer.

Is this for you to get out of doing future interviews?

It could be! But its also a legacy for children, a way of doing your will, or delivering a lecture.

Youre surprisingly tech-savvy. Most people probably dont know this, but you were onto NFTs before a lot of folks.

Coming up in April, theres a 6,000-person meeting about NFTs where Ill be occupying maybe an hour of the discussion. So yes, NFTs. Were about to release some more NFTs.

I read that you sold 125,000 NFTs in July.

The [Beeple] artwork sold for $69 million! Its incredible.

Given your involvement in NFTs, are you also heavily invested in crypto?

No, Im not. Although you got my telepathic message, apparently. Yesterday, I was talking it over with ethereum and theyve got their own coinage, and its dependent on bitcoin. If bitcoin goes up, the ether goes up or down, and as you know, the sway is just too much for people who dont want to gamble their money. It is a big gamble.

I should ask you about Senior Moment. Its a lovely little film.

A lovely film! Thats such a lovely word to say. The word lovely encompasses so much. A lovely film is like a flower. Its wonderful.

The film opens with your character talking dirty to his vintage Porsche while cleaning it. Now, Im curious what William Shatners policy is on talking dirty. Youve never done that to a vehicle yourself, have you?

Well, first of all, I dont call it talking dirty. The passion of sex, its losing your mind over the feeling you have, but talking dirty, Ive never understood it. Everyone says youre talking dirty, but what do they mean? But yes, to a number of peopleincluding mea mechanical thing, like a motorcycle or a car, can give you a sensual thrill, so you can talk dirty. Oh, you little... Im going to shine you up... And its more acknowledging the sensuality of a curve of metal.

Do you have a prized chariot of your own?

I have two Dobermans who are my best friends, and I dont want to go anywhere without them, so I have an SUV all jazzed up. Its a Mercedes what are those letters? AMG. So, its all AMGd up with a big five-liter motor and a particular suspension. The Dobermans, my wife, and I will go lots of places.

Theres a rather tender scene in the filma big bonding momentwhere your character and Jean Smarts are smoking a joint together. I heard that you use CBD to cure your own aches and pains?

Oh, Im part of a CBD company. Mike Tyson and I have been doing some fun commercials to publicize this CBD spray. Absolutely. The aches and pains, the miracleand I dont understand it, and need to have a doctor explain it to meis that the aches and pains go away almost instantaneously. To have the inflammation go down almost before youve finished wiping it off, I dont understand the mechanism!

Do you smoke weed as well or just dabble in the oils and ointments?

Just the oils and ointments. Well there was a time that I smoked weed a fair amount when Id go to a party. I wouldnt smoke it during the day, but sometimes to enhance whatever we were doing. I havent done it in quite a whileand I dont know why, because Im all for it. But the CBD thing and the legalization of marijuana is great, and Im a fan.

Theres another scene in Senior Moment where your character is dragged to a wild party out in the Palm Springs desert, and it begs the question: Youve been a celebrity for a hot minute, so whats the wildest Hollywood party youve ever been to?

Look at you, all grinning with expectation! I was at the wildest fucking party, you wont believe it No. Its not true. Ive never been to a wild party. Ive never seen anybody take a sniff of coke. Ive never seen anybody drunk on a soundstage. Ive never been to one of those parties, and I dont know why! I know they exist. But Im outdoors with dogs, and horses, and children, and Im asking, Can you let me into the party? I dont know anybody, Marlow. I dont know people in the business. To me, a party is like having a dinner and talking.

Thats probably why youre in such good shape at 90.

I work out in the pool as often as I canat least three times a week, sometimes more. I do all the resistant exercises. And I ride horses a lot. I try to make my business things in the afternoon, so four to five times a week I ride the horses in the morningcompetitively. Its not a walk in the part, literally or figuratively. It is a real, athletic exercise.

Id also read that youre a longtime karate practitioner.

I started judo and karate when I was younger, and I loved the sportand I love MMA. Ill watch anything MMA. But I dont compete or go to a dojo anymore.

I dont know what would have happened if Id gotten into a fight. Its just a question of whether my nose would be broken or not, so I try to control that impulse.

Have you ever had to use your karate moves on anyone?

You know, there was a girl that I knew [Laughs] No, Ive never had to use them. But I was driving on Ventura Boulevard and apparently, I cut somebody off while making a left turn, because now were side by side and racing down, and I look out at the guy and hes shaking his fist, and then I see a truck in the road unloading. He gets in front of me and stops, and Im thinking, Oh, you son of a bitch. I open the doorand this was last yearand Im ready. Im 89 years old, and I march up to him, and this guy is built like a stuntman. You know why he was built like a stuntman? He was a stuntman. And Im coming toward him and he says, Shatner? I stunted for you in such-and-such. We were both going at each other, and I started to laugh. I dont know what would have happened if Id gotten into a fight. Its just a question of whether my nose would be broken or not, so I try to control that impulse.

You know Ive gotta admit, I enjoy when you lightly troll Star Wars fans on Twitter.

Theyve gotta have a sense of humor about it! If they object to it thats their problem, and they do object. Get a life! Im on Twitter a lot, for several reasons. One is, Im keeping abreast of people in other shows. What that does is eventually Ill ask them for some object from their show that I can auction off for charity. Another reason is staying in touch with people and fans, and finding out what theyre interested in.

Can you explain to me why you feel Star Trek is the superior franchise? It always struck me as more of a vision of what America aspires to be.

Therein lies the reason for its popularity, in my opinion. Its what we aspire to. The fact that Star Trek exists four hundred years from now is why people watch, I think. Its the hope that well get ourselves out of this incredible situation of self-destructionand we will destroy ourselves. In a hundred years, your grandchild will not be able to live, or live under such terrible circumstances that they wont want to live. This pandemic is just the rehearsal. Its going to get far worse before it gets better. Were getting a sense of the emergency thats going to emerge. Through Biden, were seeing how America should work.

Im a Canadian, but I admire America through all the turgid goings-on, from McCarthy and the assassinations to 9/11, all the stuff thats happened to America, and people will be dying in a foreign land, and all of a suddenboomAmerica has brought the goods. The diversity of Star Trek and the diversity of this democratic government is the way America should work, and were seeing it. And were seeing competent people whose life is devoted to whatever their diverse thing is. The most brilliant thing that I think Gene Roddenberry did is to make this all-around grouping of people, of which billions exist, and which old white men in America dont want to look at.

On the other hand, this disease couldnt have chosen a better target than America. It hit a country thats so divided.

Hundreds of thousands of people died because it was such a bad response. Theres blood on some of those peoples hands, I think. But it also taught us a lesson that I hope weve learned, that will carry us through the next period of time: I think of America as that sleeping giant that was referred to in World War II. You awaken the sleeping giant, and America eventually comes through. I for one was waiting patiently for the country to organize itself to get this vaccine out, and of course they haveand will.

I know youre not the most political guy but are you at least a little bit happy that theres no longer a certain president tweeting nonsense all the time?

I have tried to stay out of politics. Im CanadianI have a green alien cardand I dont want to alienate certain people, but Im so glad to see how America is reacting now, with the foreign attachments as well as locally.

Im curious why youve never gotten your citizenship? Theyd probably just give you an honorary one at this point.

You know, Canada isI hate to use the word beacon, and its fallen short in these last few years, but Canada is like a clean canvas in many ways. It just seems less dirtied by the politics of the world, for some reason. I felt glad that I was a Canadian and I didnt want to sully it by going to another country, although as I said, I admire this countrywith all its faults.

Hundreds of thousands of people died because it was such a bad response. Theres blood on some of those peoples hands, I think.

As the singer of the definitive version of Rocket Man, Im curious what your thoughts are on Elon Musk, who I suppose is the modern-day Rocket Man.

He is, isnt he? Well, hes a brave soul and hes obviously a genius, and hes admirable in the way some of those old titans were who founded the railroads and all those things. I think that his idea of going to Mars in lieu of making the world green again is silly. Rather, he should, in my opinion, be devoting all those extraneous abilities to cleaning up the world.

Do you want to go to outer space? They might give you a free ticket.

My joke is, I want a contract assuring me Ill come back!

You tweeted something about Star Trek that I disagree with. You tweeted of Gene Roddenberry, His vision on Star Trek was socially progressive but he was no SJW. What did you mean by that?

Gene Roddenberry was a flawed man, like all of us. He had this great imagination and brought forth a concept, called Star Trek, and he had the sense to turn it over at a certain point to others who continued his vision and made it even better. So, although he did things that I didnt admire, his ability to put the diversity into the cast and hold fast on things like Spocks ears, which the network wanted to take off, his vision was so vivid that he said, No, were keeping the ears. And the ears were, of course, the thing that made Spock so different. It was a perfect vision. And he wasnt a saint, but he was no devil.

With the SJW thing, because thats a term youve tweeted about a lot, what does that mean to you? Why are you fixated on it?

A Jesus figureessentially, thats what I mean. The people who love Star Trek think of Roddenberry as some God-like figure and give him talents and aspects that I dont think he had, but like I say, the original vision was instrumental in putting all of this out there.

Im part Jewish and I wanted to ask you, as a Jew, how important was it for you to be in Judgement at Nuremberg? Thats a very important and powerful film.

It was very important for me. I was brought up in an Orthodox home, and this album that Ive written involves not listening to my father saying, Youll be a hanger-on, and I told the producer as weve listened to the words and the music, to make it more Jewishto have a rabbi chanting in the beginning and have klezmer music in it. It has affected me. I had fights almost every day about being Jewish in my grade school, and I think they punched me enough to hammer me into some kind of hardness that I wouldnt have had if I wasnt Jewish.

You were being bullied by anti-Semites?

Big-time.

What effect did that have on you?

It made me feel badly about myself. It took away my sense of worth, because many if not every Jew thinks, Are they right? Am I a dirty Jew? Its the age-old question, isnt it? I was in Lithuania a couple of years ago, and I did the horah with about seven or eight Hasidic Jews, apparently some of the last few Jews living in Lithuania, and the mayor of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, said on the stairs, This is the first time Jews danced at this square. Thirty feet away, there was a brick wall where the Jewish ghetto was bricked up, and where Jews were forced to go, and I was told that the word dirty Jew was literalthey didnt have much water, they didnt have much food, they were literally dirtyso when they said dirty Jew they meant a literal dirty Jew. Its possible thats where that phrase came from. So, all that as a youngster, being called a dirty Jew and getting beaten up and having to fight every day, all that made me ashamed of being a Jew for a long while.

Im going to leave things on a more lighthearted note: Are we going to see you return to the Star Trek universe anytime soon? Theres a fourth film set to be released, and the CBS series. Will we ever see you in the chair again?

If they were to write a really significant role, I would do it. Otherwise, I dont want to be just a gratuitous face in the crowd.

Read more here:

William Shatner Wants Elon Musk to Save the Earth - Daily Beast - The Daily Beast