Edit question Coronavirus Wrecked Tesla’s Momentum and Elon Musk Is Furious Mr. Musk opened his California factory this

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Edit question Coronavirus Wrecked Tesla’s Momentum and Elon MuskIs Furious Mr. Musk opened his California factory this week indefiance of local orders. He has also criticized the response tothe pandemic as “dumb” and “fascist.” By Niraj Chokshi PublishedMay 13, 2020Updated May 19, 2020 A few months ago, everythingseemed to be going Elon Musk’s way, as he presided over an upstartelectric car company that was worth more than General Motors, FordMotor and Fiat Chrysler combined. That company, Tesla, had reportedprofits two quarters in a row, proving that it could earn moneyeven as it grew. Its stock was surging. Mr. Musk opened a factoryin China and was planning another in Germany. And his otherbusiness, SpaceX, was poised to become the first to ferry NASAastronauts to orbit from American soil since 2011, a trip scheduledfor the end of this month. Mr. Musk also claimed vindication bydefeating a defamation lawsuit filed by a British diver he hadcalled a “pedo guy.” He was staying out of trouble on Twitter,where he has long antagonized critics and regulators, who fined him$20 million in 2018 for statements he made there. His girlfriendwas pregnant, too, with a son born this month. But the coronavirusset Mr. Musk off. Society’s response to the pandemic was “dumb” anda “panic,” he said, arguing that the threat is overstated. Andgovernment stay-at home orders were, in his view, unnecessarilystalling his plans to revolutionize the auto industry and helpsolve climate change. He attacked local officials in the SanFrancisco Bay Area for not letting him reopen Tesla’s factory,which he did this week anyway, in defiance of their instructions.Mr. Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur who co-founded PayPal, hasalways been volatile. His latest attacks and statements have raisedquestions about Tesla’s financial health and his own judgment, butthey also reflect a recognition of the influence he wields as oneof the technology industry’s best-known iconoclasts. “This issomebody who knows that what he says gets heard across the globe,and tries to make a point about why he doesn’t take system-levelconstraints as a given,” said Rahul Kapoor, a professor ofmanagement at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Mr.Musk’s anger was stoked in March 2020 when local officials orderedTesla to close its factory, in Fremont, Calif., just as the companywas poised to accelerate production of a highly anticipated newsport utility vehicle, the Model Y. Less than a year earlier, thecompany had been desperate for cash, and Wall Street had grownincreasingly sceptical that Tesla could become anything more than amaker of luxury cars that only a sliver of humanity could afford.But Tesla’s fortunes had started to turn before the pandemic. InOctober 2019, the company announced a quarterly profit, a sign thatit had solved production problems. Tesla’s stock began a long,astonishing rally. Shares peaked at $917 in February, up from $350only three months before. Despite suffering along with the broadermarket in March and April, the stock closed at $790.96 a share onWednesday, valuing the company at about $146 billion. By contrast,investors value G.M., which produces many more cars than Tesla, atless than $31 billion. By March 2020, Tesla was on a tear. Despitebeing slowed by the outbreak in China, the new Shanghai factory hadreopened. In Europe, Tesla’s Model 3 sedan was outselling cars madeby automakers like Volkswagen. The carmaker had just begundeliveries of the Model Y, which starts at about $53,000, in theballpark of comparable S.U.V.s from BMW and Mercedes-Benz. But Mr.Musk’s dreams of dominating the car industry were put on hold whenAlameda County forced the Fremont plant, which brings in most ofthe company’s revenue, to shut down in late March. That frustratedMr. Musk, who had long dismissed the seriousness of thecoronavirus. He has promoted unproven research suggesting thatdeaths from the virus are overstated and, around the time thefactory was closed, predicted that there would be zero new cases inthe United States by the end of April. (There were almost 32,000new cases on April 30.) Mr. Musk resisted closing the plant, and ina late-April 2020 call with analysts called stay-at-home orders“fascist.” “They’re breaking people’s freedoms in ways that arewrong and are not why people came here or built this country,” saidMr. Musk, who is a native of South Africa. That week, he postedseveral odd messages on Twitter. Tesla’s stock was “too high,” hesaid, and added that he would sell “almost all physicalpossessions,” including his homes. Last week, Mr. Musk’s angerabout the factory boiled over, and he threatened to move thefactory out of California and sued the county in federal court. OnMonday, Mr. Musk officially reopened the Fremont plant, to thefrustration of some workers and county officials who had beennegotiating a reopening plan with Tesla for weeks. “I will be onthe line with everyone else,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday. “Ifanyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.” Later that day, thecounty asked Tesla to cease operations until it reached anagreement with local officials. On Tuesday, the county said it hadreviewed the plan and “held productive discussions” with Tesla. Thecounty said that it had made safety recommendations and that ifTesla included them and public health conditions didn’t worsen, thecompany could reopen next week. County officials did not suggestthat they would hold Tesla to account for ignoring the order, butnoted that the Fremont police would verify that Tesla was adheringto safety measures as workers “prepare for full production.” OnTuesday, trucks were leaving the factory carrying cars and S.U.V.sas masked workers milled about. New cars were also parked in rowsoutside. The parking lot for employees was full. Tesla and Mr. Muskdid not respond to requests for comment President Trump, who hasbeen pushing states to allow businesses to restart, voiced supportfor Mr. Musk, writing on Twitter on Tuesday that California shouldlet Tesla reopen the plant “NOW.” But the president’s statement isunlikely to sway California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, a Democrat,who has deferred to counties on such issues. The state hasauthorized manufacturing, but Mr. Newsom said Monday that “if acounty doesn’t want to go as far,” local orders would prevail. Mr.Musk’s decision to reopen the factory has put employees in adifficult position. In an email sent on Monday, the company toldemployees that they may remain home but would not be paid if theyhad already used up their time off and might also lose unemploymentbenefits, as determined by local government agencies. On Wednesday,the company said employees who chose not to go in would not bepenalized. Several Tesla employees, who asked to speak anonymouslyfor fear of retribution, said the company was putting a priority onprofits over people. One man who worked at the factory on Tuesdaysaid the company had checked employees’ temperatures at the startof his shift, distributed masks and rearranged a break room. But,he said, little had changed on the production line, where it ishard to avoid coming within six feet of others. As the factoryreopened, Mr. Musk thanked employees for making “the factory comeback to life.” “I have vastly more respect for someone who takespride in doing a good job,” he said in an email, “whatever theprofession, than some rich or famous person who does nothinguseful.” Tesla gave workers permission to stay home rather thanrisk getting covid-19. Then it sent termination notices. When hedefiantly reopened the company’s plant in Fremont, Calif., againstcounty orders in May 2020, Elon Musk promised Tesla employees theycould stay home if they felt uneasy. They would not be penalized,he said. If “you feel uncomfortable coming back to work at thistime, please do not feel obligated to do so,” he wrote in an emailsent to the company’s factory workers in early May that was viewedby The Washington Post. Nonetheless, two Tesla workers say theyreceived termination notices alleging a “failure to return to work”after they opted to take unpaid leave to protect themselves andtheir family members when the factory restarted production thesecond week of May. Elon Musk calls Tesla workers back to thefactory (again). Health officials say no (again). In late April2020, Musk went on an erratic tweetstorm that culminated in hiswriting “FREE AMERICA NOW” in response to widespread stay-at-homeorders. He launched into an expletive-laden rant on the company’searnings call the next day, labelling quarantine measures “fascist”and demanding that politicians return people’s “freedom.” Muskdefiantly reopened the factory in early May, winning PresidentTrump’s support as he bucked the county’s orders once more.Ultimately, county officials backed down and agreed to allow Teslato fully reopen May 18th, 2020. The Post reported earlier in June2020 that workers at the factory’s seat assembly plant were toldmultiple colleagues had tested positive for the coronavirus — andAlameda County officials confirmed Tesla had reported coronaviruscases in Fremont. Laurie Shelby, Tesla’s vice president forenvironment, health and safety, told workers in an email that therehad been no workplace transmissions of the virus, though it wasunknown how the exact origin of each of the cases would have beendetermined. Jane McAlevey, a union organizer who serves as seniorpolicy fellow at the University of California at Berkeley’s Centrefor Labour Research and Education, said Musk’s treatment of hisworkforce has been typical of tech companies in Silicon Valley. “Heis causing untold problems for his workers,” she said. “He hasstressed them out — there’s a huge history there before the covidcrisis of health and safety violations. They’re saddled by the kindof promises and rushed production that get people hurt, and nowhe’s doing it again during a pandemic.” Since learning of thecases, some workers say they’ve been beset by fear of coming downwith covid-19. It’s a matter of particular concern on the vehicleproduction lines, where multiple workers touch components and sharemachinery. Some pool into an outdoor tent where they assemblescars. Data found cases at Fremont, Calif., factory spiked inDecember Hundreds of COVID-19 cases were reported at Tesla Inc.’sproduction plant in Fremont, Calif., after it reopened in May 2020in defiance of local health regulations, according to a new report.Citing county data obtained by the website Plainsite, theWashington Post first reported that there were around 450coronavirus cases at the plant between May and December, 2020 whencases spiked to 125 cases. About 10,000 people work at the factory.Workers have complained about unsafe conditions at the Fremontfactory for years, and Forbes reported in 2019 that Tesla hadaccumulated significantly more workplace safety investigations andfines by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration than itscompetitors.
3.Elaborate on the possible course of action (s) to prevent acompany’s defiance against the local government’s order to closedown the manufacturing plant to prevent the spread of thecoronavirus and also to put employees’ well-being at risk.