A Union Takes on Musk via Teslas Stock

ImageA union takes on Tesla over its stock priceAs Elon Musk’s norm-shattering influence in Washington has grown — consider his unprecedented cameo at President Trump’s first cabinet meeting on Wednesday — he has drawn intense scrutiny and opposition.The latest pushback comes from the American Federation of Teachers, one of the nation’s biggest labor unions, with an unexpected line of attack: applying pressure on some of the largest investors in Tesla, DealBook is first to report.The A.F.T.’s leader, Randi Weingarten, is writing to the C.E.O.s of six asset managers: Larry Fink of BlackRock, Abigail Johnson of Fidelity, Ronald O’Hanley of State Street, Thasunda Duckett of TIAA, Robert Sharps of T.Rowe Price and Salim Ramji of Vanguard.

(Musk and the Tesla board were copied.)She is calling on them to review Tesla’s current valuation.“This is about safeguarding workers’ retirements,” she said in a statement.

“Just this week we saw Tesla stock continue to sink faster than a Cybertruck in quicksand as European sales fell off a cliff.So, we knew we needed to act.”Some caveats: Weingarten is among the most outspoken labor leaders, regularly advocating for Democratic causes.

Unions more broadly have clashed with Musk, whose companies eschew organized labor.(The feeling is mutual.)And the union chief stayed quiet about Tesla’s stock performance when it was rocketing up.Weingarten argues that Tesla is overvalued, potentially weighing on the investment portfolios of its 1.8 million members.

The union chief writes that she’s acting on behalf of an estimated $4 trillion in retirement assets — both through pension funds and other collective vehicles and members’ individual accounts.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.T...