Fulmine hit the heart of Silicon Valley. This week, dozens of employees ofTesla, the famous automotive company driven by Elon Musk, have formally presentedinternal complaintsand threatened legal actions after discovering ashocking wage gapbetween their compensation and that of the colleagues ofSpaceX, also owned by the Musk magnate.
The figure that unleashed the controversy is to say the least explosive:Up to 1 million dollars of differencefor similar roles within the two companies. The revelations, which emerged from documents leaked on an internal anonymous platform, became viral in less than 24 hours, bringing Tesla to the center of an unprecedented media storm.
According to a report obtained exclusively byMilan chronicle tech, a group of senior engineers at Tesla accidentally had access to a file shared by the Spacex human resources team. The file contained details onaverage wage levels, annual bonuses and stock optionsof hundreds of Spacex employees.
The surprise was immediate:A senior developer of artificial intelligence in Spacex earns on average 1.4 million dollars per year, while the same role in Tesla is paid withabout 400,000 dollars, including bonuses and prizes.
“It is as if our work was worth only a third compared to that of our colleagues,” said an employee Tesla who preferred to remain anonymous. “We work at the same rhythm, often even more, and we receive much less in return. It is a lack of respect.”
Elon Musk, reached by journalists outside the Twitter X headquarters in San Francisco, replied with his typical enigmatic tone:
“Tesla and Spacex have different missions, missions and flows and numbers. The numbers do not always tell the whole story.”
However, within Tesla, this answer was not enough. Some employees would even have sent an open letter to the CEO office, asking for aimmediate wage reviewand greatertransparency in the remuneration criteria.
On social media a real one broke outviral case. On Reddit, the “Teslasalaryleaks” thread exceeded 50,000 comments in two days. Many users expressed solidarity with Tesla workers, while others defended the company choices underlining the different nature of the two companies.
“Spacex builds rockets, Tesla electric car. They are not the same thing,” writes one user on X (ex Twitter).
But another reiterates: “So why does Elon Musk asks the same level of dedication, sleepless nights and work on the weekend to both teams?”
One of the most shocking revelations, according to an internal source, is that some Spacex employees have been“Paid for silence”, receivingExtra bonus not to publicly discuss their wage conditions, especially with Tesla’s colleagues.
“It’s like a company secret,” said a former manager, now outside the two companies. “Elon knew that direct confrontation would create internal tensions, so he tried to prevent it with very rigid confidentiality agreements.”
The impact could be significant. According to some analysts,Tesla risks a wave of resignationif the question is not tackled quickly. Some key employees would have already received offers from rival companies such as Rivian, Lucid and Apple Car Project.
A group of workers also made contact with international unions to evaluate the possibility oforganize a collective movementin favor of thewage equalityAmong the companies of Elon Musk.
In the meantime, some political personalities in the United States have asked for investigations on the compensation criteria adopted by Musk in his companies, in particular for the disparities between workers of the same level.
This “salary scandal” risks mining the image of Tesla as a paradise of innovation. For years the company has attracted the best talents with the promise to change the world. But now, many wonder if those dreams are really worth a third compared to a rocket that flies to Mars.
“We don’t want to become a billionaires,” concluded one of the engineers in protest. “We only want to respect … and a salary that reflects our value.”
