00:00 Tesla's Gigafactory in Berlin-Brandenburg has over 12,000 employees.
00:07 Around 6,000 electric vehicles are produced here every week.
00:11 It's the company's only factory in Europe.
00:13 But now 400 jobs could be lost.
00:17 Because Tesla is having problems.
00:20 Staff are being cut at the Gigafactory in Berlin-Brandenburg as the company massively
00:24 cuts costs.
00:26 What do the employees think?
00:28 Already slow down in car industries I heard and then Tesla sales are also down.
00:33 So I guess...
00:34 Are you afraid your job will be shortened?
00:36 I mean a bit but not really because if you, if I got this job I can get another job and
00:44 I cannot force a company to keep me there if they don't need me.
00:47 I have heard before yesterday about that but I don't know any details about that.
00:56 Yes I've heard about it but I still think that the good employees should stay and if
01:01 someone's made redundant what can I do?
01:07 Not all employees want to show themselves in front of the camera.
01:12 Most of them are not satisfied with their work.
01:15 We all only have a fixed term employment contract here.
01:19 You're like a machine.
01:21 You're just being used.
01:23 Nothing more.
01:24 I heard that yesterday from my buddy and also on the news.
01:27 Ten percent are now being laid off.
01:32 And are you afraid too?
01:34 Of course I'm afraid we could just lose our jobs.
01:37 300 temporary workers have already been made redundant.
01:41 Initially it was said that 10 percent of the workforce or 1,200 employees could be affected.
01:47 The trade union is rejecting the cuts.
01:50 We are against the hire and fire principle, i.e. hiring people and then quickly throwing
01:54 them out again in the first crisis.
01:57 Now would be an opportunity to further train the existing employees and bridge the gap
02:01 until things improve.
02:04 Overall they have a heavy workload, especially in the area of production, and it would do
02:09 people good to have others available to do additional shifts.
02:17 Tesla's stock price drop reflects the crisis.
02:20 The boss, Elon Musk, is also speaking out and justifying the job cuts.
02:25 There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done.
02:28 This will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth cycle.
02:32 The competition is getting stronger.
02:34 For years Tesla was the industry leader, but Chinese EV manufacturers are catching up,
02:39 especially with affordable models.
02:41 Some people call it a price war and like no one else was able to really fight back.
02:45 So I'm not sure it was a war, but Tesla just, you know, as the dominant player outside of
02:50 China really undercut the whole market by cutting their prices by about a third, you
02:56 know, which just gave away a lot of profit.
03:01 Now Tesla wants to become more profitable by selling in volume because the high prices
03:06 are no longer working.
03:10 And the share price also collapsed.
03:15 In 2022, the US EV manufacturers still had an equity value of over one trillion US dollars.
03:23 Since then, its value has fallen massively.
03:30 Many investors are now shying away from the stock, not seeing a recovery in the near future.
03:36 And I think that's why you now see a situation where many investors are losing patience.
03:43 The stock's been a disaster so far this year.
03:46 It's a fork in the road period for Elon.
03:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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