Sep 29, 2024 03:12 PM IST Share Via Also Read: Japanese cities made $45 million in 2023 selling metals taken out of cremated remains This came after the percentage of Berlin gigafactory workers calling in sick reached 17% in August, compared to the German car industry's sick leave average of a little over 5%. The gigafactory employs around 12,000 staff. The situation reached the extent of Tesla giving bonuses of €1,000 (£830) to staff who turn up to work regularly (more than 95% of the time), with executives going as far as to call staff who frequently call in sick as “dishonourable” and as “exploiting” the system. German carmaking union IG Metall claimed that the high absence rate was due to the staff being overworked and put in unsafe conditions. Musk, a vocal critic of unions had clashed with them multiple times. “That is not an indicator of bad working conditions because the working conditions are the same on all working days and across all shifts,” the report quoted Thierig as saying. “It suggests that the German social system is being exploited to some extent.”