Tesla workers are threatening to strike

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Reuters/Bobby Yip; Business Insider/Dave Smith

Elon Musk.

The Tesla workers that are key to ensuring the automaker meets its lofty production targets are threatening to strike, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

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Employees at Grohmann Engineering, the German engineering company Tesla bought in November, are calling for a strike, claiming they have been making 30% below union wages ever since Tesla acquired the company, according to the report. Germany's industrial trade union IG Metall could decide whether it will call for a strike by late Tuesday in order to negotiate new wages.

Tesla refuted the claim that Grohmann workers are making 30% below union wages to the WSJ, and said it doesn't "anticipate any impact on the Model 3 timeline" if a strike occurs.

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A Tesla spokesperson did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The California-based automaker acquired Grohmann as part of an effort to further automate its factories and speed up production.

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In the past, Tesla has experienced severe manufacturing issues, most notably with the Model X that suffered three years of delays. (The Model S also faced delays and was delivered in mid-2011 instead of 2010.)

The Model 3 will serve as Tesla's greatest test yet and is slated to begin rolling off assembly lines by the end of this year. Tesla ultimately plans to sell 500,000 vehicles a year starting in 2018.

The electric car maker missed on deliveries in 2016 (it shipped 76,230 cars instead of its forecasted 80,000-90,000) and must now contend with the Model 3 on top of Model S and Model X production.

There's a lot of pressure for Tesla to execute on the Model 3. The company is valued as high as Ford, despite selling a fraction of the vehicles.

Tesla factory workers in Fremont are looking to form a union due to difficult work conditions and "excessive mandatory overtime."

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