Tesla workers in Germany say they don't have time to use the bathroom

• Tesla workers in Germany are asking for better working conditions and more breaks.
• The petition follows a global decline in Tesla sales and backlash against CEO Elon Musk.
• Tesla's challenges in Germany also include anti-Musk sentiment and environmental protests.

Tesla workers at a German factory say working conditions don't allow them enough time for drinking or bathroom breaks.

Over 3,000 workers at a Tesla gigafactory near Berlin have signed a petition asking for more breaks and an end to intimidation from management, according to a statement from German metalworker's union IG Metall.

"There often isn't even time to drink or go to the toilet," the union wrote in the statement. "No one can keep going like this until they retire."

The workers are calling on Tesla to introduce short paid breaks and increase staffing levels to end "chronic understaffing" at the plant.

It's the latest clash between workers and management at the factory, which is Tesla's only production facility in Europe.

Last year, local media reported that some employees at the factory had received visits at home from their managers after they had called off sick.

Concerns about high sick rates at the German factory even drew the attention of Elon Musk, who said he would investigate the absences.

At the time, an IG Metall union official described the home visits as "absurd," and the union earlier this week accused Tesla of challenging employee sick notes and withholding wages.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

The union's activity comes at a precarious time for Tesla, as the company grapples with lower sales globally amid rising sentiment against CEO Elon Musk.

Car sales across Europe plunged last month. Sales in Germany fell by 76%, 53% in Portugal, 48% in Norway and Denmark, and 45% in France, compared to a year ago, according to government data.

Protests have spread worldwide since Musk began working with the White House's DOGE office in January. Campaigns with the slogan "Don't buy a Tesla" have been used as a rallying cry in cities including Berlin, and some owners are offloading their Tesla cars.

Tesla's headaches in the continent follow Musk's involvement in shaking up European politics.

Earlier this year, Musk sparked outrage in Germany when he endorsed the AfD, a right-wing political party. In January, he also urged British voters to back Reform UK, a populist party led by conservative Nigel Farage, a key figure in the UK's 2016 referendum, to leave the European Union. Musk met with him at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in December.

The unionists said they planned to hand over their petition to Tesla management during a worker's assembly on Thursday.

The factory employs around 10,500 people, according to union estimates.

Businesses in Germany are required to set up "works councils" to mediate between employees and management.

While IG Metall is the largest group on the Tesla Works Council, it does not have a majority — a rarity in Germany's heavily unionized auto industry that limits the union's power to negotiate over wages and working conditions.

Last year, about 800 activists set up a protest camp in Grünheide, where the factory is located, and clashed with police as they attempted to storm the Tesla premises. The demonstrators argued that Tesla's plan to expand the gigafactory would hurt the local environment and threaten the drinking water supply.

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