As a new policy brief documents, New York State’s billion-dollar subsidy deal with Tesla has failed to meet even its own low goals. Mass layoffs have been frequent; job targets have been missed and drastically reduced; and workers have complained of illegal union- busting and racial harassment. The initial business plan—making solar roof modules—has failed, and many workers at the plant are not doing manufacturing but low-paid data analysis: tagging videos and maps. Tesla is assembling an AI supercomputer that will consume massive amounts of electricity and water—harming the environment and, most likely, driving up prices for residents and other businesses. Tesla’s business prospects look bleak, with earnings and stock prices plummeting and analysts skeptical of the company’s risky bet on self-driving vehicles.

With the company on shaky ground and its leader, Elon Musk, doing unprecedented damage to the nation’s democracy, economy, and health, it is time for New York to chart a new path.

A proposed new agreement between the state and Tesla, outlined in a non-binding letter of intent, would extend Tesla’s lease from 2029 through 2034.While increasing Tesla’s rent (previously, $1 per year), the proposal decreases job requirements, reduces the penalties for missing them, and fails to protect workers, local communities, and the natural environment. 

Rather than assuming that Tesla is the best possible tenant, New York should issue a new Request for Proposals for the South Buffalo property: a fair competition to see which company can provide the most high-quality jobs and other public benefits. Any new lease or subsidy should include the following provisions:

• Higher job targets;
• Family-supporting wages and benefits;
• Protection of workers from discrimination and harassment;
• Card-check neutrality (a requirement that an employer recognize a union if a majority of workers sign cards in favor);
• PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) for local municipalities;
• Environmental protections regarding air, water, and soil quality, including a requirement that only renewable, non-nuclear energy be used to power the plant;
• Community benefit provisions providing job and career pathways for workers; vendor opportunities for local, minority and women-owned businesses; and other benefits to the surrounding communities; and
• Increased penalties for violations, including failure to meet job targets.
 

In addition, New York should begin a comprehensive audit to make sure that Tesla has abided by the terms of the agreements and all applicable laws, and, if it finds violations, move promptly to enforce its rights.

• Read the full policy brief here.
 

• View the press conference livestream here.
 

According to a former data analyst at the plant, “It was very robotic; you were very much a number at Tesla.” The worker describes being packed “like sardines” in one huge factory room. As the worker summarizes the job: “It’s not what it seems like. It’s not beneficial. It’s factory-type work on a computer, where you are just an assembly member: click, click, click. The expectations on you are absurd, extreme—very poor working conditions.”

“The State of New York has a choice in terms of who it's going to do business with, and who it's going to give public money to or subsidies to. Is Tesla really the best choice, given where the company is at right now, and given its track record here at this site? The targets it's missed, the mass layoffs that have occurred here, the complaints of racial harassment and sexual harassment, and union busting from workers who have worked here. And the increasingly bleak prospects that Tesla as a business faces,” said Sam Magavern, senior policy follow at Partnership for the Public Good.

“When everyone else is running away from Tesla, and when its investors are running away, why would New York State go even further in on a sweetheart deal? It doesn't make any sense. We can't do it,” said NYS Assemblymember Pat Burke. “We cannot, in New York State, be further investing in Elon Musk and in Tesla.”

“Buffalo was promised good jobs and a stronger future. Instead, we got outright exploitation. As a faltering billionaire destroys his brand and credibility, it’s the working people of our city who will bear the consequences. Even as Tesla sinks, the state wants to extend the deal—with fewer protections, weaker penalties, and zero accountability. Public money built that factory. It should serve the public. We need a clean break from failed promises, and a bold new vision rooted in worker power, environmental justice, and real community investment,” said Harper Bishop, Executive Director of Our City Buffalo.

“If New York enters into a new agreement with Tesla without providing the workers of this plant with labor protections, the State is condoning Elon Musk’s anti-labor agenda. If New York enters into an agreement with Tesla to provide it with ‘a break,’ it’s also undermining high wage and High Road employers—such as Ford and GM, where workers earn much more than this plant. We know that Elon Musk and his companies, including Tesla, are committed low-wage employers. Everywhere they operate in the United States, they pay less than the prevailing rate,” said Cathy Creighton, Director of Cornell University ILR Buffalo Co-Lab.

“New York’s Tesla boondoggle is an object lesson in the risks of focusing economic development plans on giveaways to billionaires and politically-connected corporations. To date there has been little to no accountability for Tesla's failure to meet its meager goals and now we stand at a crossroads in addressing the crises of runaway carbon pollution, cost of living, and inequality. New York should use the opportunity presented by the expiration of Tesla’s lease to prioritize the needs of working people above flashy schemes and handouts to the super-rich,” said Robert Galbraith, Senior Research Analyst Public Accountability Initiative/LittleSis.org.

“We are seeing the rampant expansion of AI and Bitcoin mining data centers with little planning or taking into account the consequences of the enormous energy demands and added stress on our grid, climate harming emissions, threats to ecosystems, water supplies, and human health. We are extremely concerned about the energy use, water use for cooling, and the possible harmful emissions from backup or primary generators for the proposed supercomputer on site here at Tesla Buffalo. We are simply asking NY State to make a better deal for our communities with our tax dollars,” said Chris Murawski, Executive Director of the Clean Air Coalition of WNY.

“The Western New York Environmental Alliance calls on Elon Musk’s Tesla Riverbend Site to complete a thorough environmental impact statement under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) for this proposed major change in the use and purpose of the facility. The environmental harms caused by the current generation of supercomputer data centers and their ongoing operations are widely known. Further, we believe that no more public funds should be wasted on this failed Elon Musk/Tesla operation. Rather, the failed Tesla Riverbend operations should be replaced through an open, competitive request for proposals process,” said John Whitney, Board Member of the WNY Environmental Alliance.