Union petition at Tesla's German plant demands longer breaks, more staff for Model Y ramp-up

BERLIN (Reuters) - Around 3,000 workers at Tesla's German plant signed a union petition for longer breaks and more staff, even as the company said most workers were satisfied with their jobs, in a sign of ongoing strife between unions and the U.S. EV maker.

At a works council meeting on Thursday, representatives of the IG Metall union will hand over a copy of the petition, signed by 3,086 plant staff, to management, according to an IG Metall flyer seen by Reuters.

Tesla said it plans to present the results of its own survey at the same meeting. It asked around 7,500 of the plant's roughly 11,000 workers whether they were satisfied with their jobs.

Approximately 80% of staff said they were, according to a statement by Tesla, with 5% of respondents saying they were unhappy and the rest neutral.

The carmaker is due to begin ramping up production of its new Model Y, a redesigned version of its mid-size SUV produced in Berlin, and has given 300 temporary workers permanent contracts from next month to handle the added workload.

A representative for IG Metall said that while they welcome the added staffing, they remain concerned that this will not be enough to meet the demands of higher production when the Model Y ramp-up speeds up.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Editing by Miranda Murray)