Tesla... flatly refusing to budge on the unions’ central demand – that the company signs up to a collective agreement.
So Tesla in Sweden refuses to sign a collective agreement because Musk thinks they are a bad thing. As a result, workers organized in IF Metall began their strike in late October.
Musk’s electric car company,Tesla, employs only about 120 workers in Sweden, servicing vehicles for Swedish drivers across several different sites.
Yet this small group of engineers is at the centre of a wave of industrial action, in which Swedish trade unions believe the very existence of the country’s long-established model of harmonious labour relations is under threat.
Unlike the UK, “sympathy strikes” are legal in Sweden. So the union representing the Tesla employees, IF Metall, has been backed by a string of boycotts and embargos called in other industries – and encompassing far more workers than those at the centre of the dispute.
Dock workers are refusing to unload Tesla cars at Swedish ports; postal workers won’t deliver their number plates; electricians won’t service Tesla charging points.
Tesla is seeking to take legal action against some of these solidarity strikes, while flatly refusing to budge on the unions’ central demand – that the company signs up to a collective agreement.
These agreements, often drawn up between employers’ associations and unions to cover entire sectors, are key to the way Sweden’s labour market has been governed for almost a century.
Unlike many other European countries, there is no legally enforced minimum wage, and little statutory labour market regulation. Instead, the system is essentially voluntary – with the baseline for pay and other conditions, including pensions, set by collective agreements.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimated in 2018 that almost 90% of Sweden’s workforce was covered by one of these deals.
The result is a remarkably peaceful industrial landscape, even by Nordic standards: Sweden lost an average of 8,100 working days a year to industrial action between 2010 and 2021, for example, against more than 120,000 in Norway and Finland.
Not surprisingly, given Musk’s attitude, Tesla has flatly refused to sign a collective agreement to cover its Swedish workers, however. After extended but fruitless negotiations, members at IF Metall opted to use the only weapon at their disposal, and call a strike.
“We have tried to negotiate with Tesla for the better part of five years, and we have tried to explain to them the benefits with the collective agreement. But if they still refuse then we have the option to take action: and finally we ran out of patience,” said Jesper Pettersson, a spokesperson for IF Metall.
A month into its strike, IF Metall is firmly dug in for the long haul. Striking workers are being fully compensated for lost pay. With a strike fund worth an estimated £1bn, the union says it can cover the cost of industrial action fordecades if need be. “We have always anticipated that it might take a long time,” Pettersson said.
TL;DR: IF Metall has tried for 5 years to get Tesla to sign a collective agreement, patience ran out and now are striking. Sympathy strikes are legal in Sweden so other unions are joining. Electricians are not servicing the charging stations, parts and registration signs aren't delivered to Tesla sites to mention some.
Denmarks 3F union recently announced they will be participating in the strike, by refusing to transport Teslas meant for Sweden through Denmark.
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Thoughts? I must say I cheer for the Swedish workers and hope they win this fight.
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