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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Wilfred Chan

Elon Musk praises Chinese workers for ‘burning the 3am oil’ – here’s what that really looks like

Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, speaks onstage during a delivery event for Tesla China-made Model 3 cars at its factory in Shanghai, China, in January 2020.
Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, speaks onstage during a delivery event for Tesla China-made Model 3 cars at its factory in Shanghai, China, in January 2020. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters

How do you become the richest man in the world? In Elon Musk’s case, part of it involves making workers in China put in hours that would be unacceptable according to labor norms elsewhere.

On Tuesday, the Tesla boss praised Chinese factory workers for pulling extreme hours while taking a shot at American workers. “There is just a lot of super talented hardworking people in China who strongly believe in manufacturing,” the billionaire said. “They won’t just be burning the midnight oil, they will be burning the 3am oil, they won’t even leave the factory type of thing, whereas in America people are trying to avoid going to work at all.”

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