THE new head of Germany’s IG Metall union warned Elon Musk today over efforts by the world’s richest man to avoid unionisation at his Tesla factory near Berlin.

Christiane Benner, IG Metall’s first female president, takes over the leadership on Monday at the 3.9 million-member union’s general assembly in Frankfurt.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Ms Benner, who replaces Jorg Hofmann, fired a warning shot across Mr Musk’s bows, saying: “You need to be careful. The rules of the game are different here.” 

Mr Musk,  said to be worth around $231 billion (£190bn), has refused to sign a wage agreement with IG Metall, a stance places him on a collision course with the union at the factory that produces the popular Model Y vehicle.

Members of IG Metall have long complained about poor health and safety conditions and extreme workloads at Tesla,caused by staff shortages and heavy production targets.

The company claims the plant receives regular health and safety checks.

IG Metall has strong membership at some of the most important manufacturing firms in Germany, including Airbus, Siemens and Volkswagen, meaning that its wage negotiations have a major impact on the German and wider European economy.

Ms Benner told Bloomberg that she was also worried about a number of economic pressures facing German workers, describing the situation as “very turbulent at the moment.”

Experts are predicting that the German economy, the powerhouse of Europe, will shrink this year as some factories have already closed and employers continue to shift manufacturing jobs abroad.

Ms Benner believes German politicians have been far too slow to deal with the challenges faced by industry and have put jobs in the 800,000-worker car industry at risk.

She said: “People need confidence. They need a plan and they need to see strategies. They need strong unions.”