Elon musk: tesla paid $55 an hour to paint-factory builders

Elon Musk took to Twitter on Wednesday to push back against claims that Tesla has used cheap foreign labor to build one of its facilities. The CEO tweeted a letter purportedly sent from

Eisenmann president Mark West that disclosed that laborers had been paid an hourly rate of $55, not the $5 that was initially reported by _The Mercury News__._ Tweet Tesla The publication

also reported that Gregor Lesnik, one of the workers who allegedly was paid $5 an hour, is attempting to sue his employers after reportedly falling three stories while building the Tesla

facility and breaking both his legs. "We are interested in accuracy first and foremost," a spokesman for _Mercury News_ told CNBC. The publication noted that Lesnik had provided

pay stubs as part of a court case that supported his claims. "Our story does not say Tesla paid these people $5 an hour," the spokesman said, "Our story says that Gregor

Lesnik was getting $5 an hour, according to his pay stubs." Tesla calls cheap-labor dispute 'totally unacceptable' Elon Musk 'burns up cash' for SolarCity, Tesla:

Pros Tesla posted a rebuttal to _Mercury News_' article on Monday, noting that if the claims against its contractors are true, they are "totally unacceptable." In the

statement, Tesla denied knowledge of its contractors' possible underpayment of workers; representatives declined to comment further on Wednesday. "We still need to make sure that

the injured person is taken care of, but less [and] less of the [_Mercury News_] story appears to be true," Musk tweeted on Wednesday.