Tesla increases salaries at the Grünheide plant by up to five percent

The only European location of the US group Tesla is raising salaries in October. Production employees in Grünheide should receive five percent more. IG Metall calls the move “a drop in the ocean.”

The US electric car manufacturer Tesla wants to increase its salaries again for the only European car factory in Grünheide near Berlin - this time by up to five percent. The management of the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg plans to increase fees by an average of four to five percent on October 1st, Tesla said. According to the company, more than 12,000 employees currently work in company boss Elon Musk's only European factory.

According to the company, employees in production should receive five percent more. They make up the majority of the workforce. According to the car manufacturer, the starting salary for employees in production will be around 45,750 euros per year with the increase. The value is above the standard salary. The skilled workers should receive four percent more, plus a performance-related bonus.

IG Metall generally sees the increase as positive, but does not consider it to be sufficient. "It's good that there is a wage increase. The colleagues at Tesla have more than earned it with their hard work," said IG Metall district manager for Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony, Jan Otto. "However, this is just a drop in the ocean, because Tesla continues to fall below the IG Metall standards of the auto industry." There is no vacation or Christmas bonus and many employees are stuck in their pay groups. "Tesla is well below the tariff standards."

According to the car manufacturer, fees have been increased in every year since production began in March 2022. As of December 1, 2025, Tesla in Grünheide increased the salaries of employees at the factory by four percent. Tesla is resisting a collective agreement and does not consider the introduction to be sensible or necessary. IG Metall, on the other hand, is committed to ensuring that the car manufacturer pays according to the tariff. The relationship between the company and the union is therefore tense.

After a dip, demand for Tesla vehicles has grown significantly again. Therefore, a total of 3,500 new jobs are to be created in Grünheide to expand production and battery cell production. Some of the employees have already been hired. German car manufacturers, on the other hand, are in crisis. Several companies are running programs to cut employees. Tens of thousands of people are affected by this, for example at Mercedes-Benz, BMW and the VW Group and associated brands.