Teacher union head taking fight to Elon Musk through Tesla stock

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten is urging top Tesla investors to review the company's current valuation on behalf of her union's members.

Weingarten, who heads one of the largest unions in the country, penned a letter Thursday pointing to drops in Tesla’s stock price, latest financial disclosures, electric vehicle (EV) competition and “deterioration” of brand as reasons for the review.

“Given these mounting concerns and the potential material impact on pension fund portfolios, I would appreciate a response detailing your firm’s assessment of Tesla’s current valuation and the steps you are taking to protect AFT members who are your clients and beneficiaries,” Weingarten said at the end of the letter.

The letter was sent to the CEOs of six asset managers, with the Tesla board and Elon Musk copied onto the message.

In the letter, Weingarten goes directly after Musk, saying he is a big reason people are losing trust in Tesla.

“According to the American EV Jobs Alliance, EV swing consumers—those open to EVs once costs drop—view Musk negatively, making customer expansion even harder. Just last week, Stifel analyst Stephen Gengaro declared that Tesla’s net favorability is at an all-time low at 3 percent, down from 9 percent in January 2024,” Weingarten wrote.

Weingarten, who represents 1.8 million education, health care and public-sector workers, says her members have an estimated $4 trillion of retirement security assets.

“Every worker deserves a safe a secure retirement. Just this week we saw Tesla stock continue to sink faster than a Cybertruck in quicksand. So we're asking asset managers to honestly look at their investments in Tesla,” Weingarten wrote on social media platform Bluesky.

Weingarten is known for her advocacy for Democratic platforms and has made clear her opposition to many of the actions of the Trump administration.

Recently, her union sued the Department of Education over a "Dear Colleague" letter that told K-12 and higher education schools to get rid of their diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

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