BERLIN, Jan 20 — Tesla’s Berlin factory will elect its first works council on February 28, Germany’s largest union IG Metall said today, expressing concern that it was too soon for the election to result in a truly representative body.

Only one in six of the roughly 12,000 workers expected at the plant have been hired so far, in part because Tesla is still awaiting final approval from local authorities to begin production. The council will consist of 19 members.

IG Metall, which represents workers across automotive companies as well as other industrial sectors, fear that calling an election before a wider swathe of workers are hired will lead to a council top-heavy with management.

Under German labour law, only employees who have been working at a company for at least six months can stand for election.

The results of the election will be valid regardless of what proportion of the workforce votes, and a new election can only be called after two years if the workforce has more than doubled.

"Those hired so far do not represent the workforce as it will look when production begins or reaches full capacity,” said Birgit Dietze, head of IG Metall’s regional office for Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony, where Tesla’s factory is located. Her comment echoed statements she made in, when the union established that an election was on the cards.

A Tesla representative was not immediately available for comment.

Chief Executive Elon Musk has sparred with organised labour in the past and was ordered in March last year to delete a comment made on Twitter in 2018, which threatened to strip US employees of their stock options if they formed a union. — Reuters