Tesla has apparently agreed to limit the number of workers at the Fremont factory but the company is still negotiating other measures with authorities to comply with the lockdown order issued on the region.
The news on the situation at Tesla’s Fremont factory came from a county spokesman who spoke to Reuters. “They told us they had gone from about 10,000 individual employees to about 2,500,” the county spokesman said.
“It sounds to me like they very well could still be making cars. We are continuing to stress to them that they must move to minimum basic operations, if they are still making cars”, the representative added.
Read More: Tesla Ordered By California County To Shut Down Fremont Factory
Under the shelter-in-place lockdown order, travel and business activities must be limited to only the most essential, with people advised to stay home except for the most crucial reasons. Manufacturing facilities must be limited to just the minimum basic operations, which include maintaining the value of inventory, ensuring security and processing payroll and employee benefits.
Alameda County, home to Tesla’s Fremont factory, clarified that Tesla is not an essential business, therefore it has to comply with the lockdown order and stop the normal operation of its factory. According to the same report, witnesses saw thousands of cars in the facility’s employee parking lot, with employees going to work and several 18-wheeler container trucks pulling into the factory’s grounds.
The county spokesman added that authorities needed to move on to other issues regarding the virus outbreak rather than focus on Tesla. “Tesla needs to comply with the health order,” he said, adding that the county did not want to enforce the lockdown order, but implement changes with the consent of businesses and people. Tesla has not responded to multiple requests for comment on Wednesday.
