Tesla employees at Giga Berlin are heading into the new year with a welcome surprise. The company has introduced a 4% salary increase for its German workforce, retroactive to December 1, marking the latest in a series of independent wage adjustments at the Grünheide factory.
As in prior years, Tesla stressed that the decision was made without input from IG Metall, the country’s powerful metalworkers union that has long pushed for a formal collective agreement at the site.
Tesla says the new bump lifts the starting annual salary for production staff to roughly €6,000 per month—about C$9,000/US$7,000—and claims this now sits 14.5% above comparable contract rates in eastern Germany.
HR manager Erik Demmler confirmed the increase, highlighting that the raise is part of Tesla’s commitment to reviewing compensation annually.
“As in previous years, we have implemented this adjustment independently and without union influence,” Demmler said. (via Deutsche Presse-Agentur)
But the raise hasn’t quieted IG Metall. The union argues that Tesla’s comparison paints an inaccurate picture, since the lowest pay grades cited aren’t typically used in German automotive manufacturing. IG Metall continues to insist that only a collective agreement can deliver stable, long-term protections for workers. The union has recently demanded benefits such as a Christmas bonus of at least €1,500, pointing to perks offered by other manufacturers in the region.
Giga Berlin also implemented a 4% raise in November 2024, following a separate €2,500 (C$4,000/US$2,900) flat-rate increase earlier that year. At the time, Tesla noted that the factory’s management routinely reviews salaries and makes fast, “unbureaucratic” adjustments when needed—again distancing itself from traditional bargaining structures. The automaker has repeatedly emphasized that wage changes, workforce expansions, and contract upgrades happen without strikes, work stoppages, or union involvement.
