Pensions should never be used to oppress and attack fellow workers across borders.

The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) is calling for public pension funds to divest from Tesla. To show solidarity with American workers facing attacks from Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the union says it’s time for the Canadian Public Sector Pension Investment Board (CPSIB) to dump its Tesla shares.

Despite holding no elected position in United States President Donald Trump’s administration, Musk and his DOGE are firing public servants with reckless abandon, placing the entire American federal public sector in jeopardy. Essential workers at the departments of education, health and human services, energy, veterans affairs and defense, as well as the Internal Revenue Service, the National Park Service, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have been summarily fired, furloughed, or pressured to accept dubious buyouts.

In response, CAPE, which represents more than 27,000 Canadian federal public servants, is leading the charge to pull Canadian public pension investments from the controversial electric automobile maker.

  • crusa187@lemmy.ml
    6·
    2 days ago

    It’s because of the green energy credit swap scheme in the US, which has essentially been a taxpayer giveaway of 10s of billions to Tesla over the years. Tesla itself would have gone bankrupt multiple times over by now, if not for them being able to salvage their balance sheet by selling these credits.

    The way it works involves other auto / oil and gas industry companies buying the credits from Tesla, in order to offset their own carbon emissions which otherwise would cost them significantly in terms of pollution fines (and maybe bad PR).

    This way, Tesla gets the taxpayers’ house money for free, and can sell it off to these other companies so they can continue polluting just as they always have been. It’s the American neoliberal dream of unchecked corporate greed with a thin veneer of eco-responsible cover so that nobody really has to do anything to improve. Just don’t scratch beneath the surface if you actually give a shit about the environment. Sadly, many don’t.

    Last point on this - yes, this means Elon Musk is the biggest welfare queen in America. He rips away any assistance for those who need it (to lower his tax bill) all while gobbling up billions in free subsidies from the government. It’s grotesque.