Scandinavian Auto Mechanics Engage in Prolonged Industrial Action With Carmaker Tesla

In Sweden, around seventy automotive technicians persist to confront among the globe's richest corporations – the electric vehicle manufacturer. This labor strike at the US automaker's 10 Scandinavian repair facilities has currently reached its second anniversary, with minimal indication for a resolution.

Janis Kuzma has remained at the Tesla picket line since October 2023.

"It has been a difficult time," states the worker in his late thirties. And as Sweden's cold winter weather arrives, it's likely to become even tougher.

Janis spends every start of the week with a colleague, standing near a Tesla service center within an industrial park located in southern Sweden. The labor organization, the Swedish metalworkers' union, provides accommodation in the form of a portable construction vehicle, as well as coffee and sandwiches.

However it's operations continue normally across the road, where the service facility seems to operate at full capacity.

The strike involves a matter that goes to the heart of Swedish labor traditions – the authority for worker organizations to negotiate wages & conditions on behalf of their members. This concept of collective agreement has supported industrial relations in Sweden for nearly a century.

Currently some 70% of Scandinavia's employees are members to labor organizations, and ninety percent are covered by a collective agreement. Labor stoppages across the nation are rare.

This is a system welcomed by all parties. "We favor the ability to bargain directly with the unions and sign labor contracts," states a business representative from the Association of Swedish Enterprise business organization.

However Tesla has disrupted the apple cart. Vocal CEO the company leader has said he "disagrees" with the concept of labor organizations. "I simply disapprove of anything that establishes a kind of lords and peasants sort of thing," he told an audience at an event in 2023. "In my view the unions try to create negativity in a company."

The automaker entered the Scandinavian market back in the mid-2010s, while IF Metall has for years sought to establish a labor contract with the company.

"But they wouldn't reply," says the union president, the union's president. "We formed the belief that they attempted to hide away or evade discussing this with us."

She says the union ultimately saw no alternative except to call a strike, which started in late October, 2023. "Usually the threat suffices to issue a warning," comments the union leader. "Employers typically signs the contract."

But not on this occasion.

The striking mechanic, originally of Latvian origin, began employment with the automaker in 2021. He claims that wages & work terms frequently subject to the discretion of supervisors.

He remembers a performance review at which he says he was refused an annual pay rise because he was "not reaching company targets". Meanwhile, a colleague was reported to have been turned down for increased compensation due to having the "wrong attitude".

Nevertheless, not everyone participated in the industrial action. Tesla employed approximately one hundred thirty mechanics working at the time the industrial action was called. IF Metall says currently approximately 70 of their represented workers are on strike.

Tesla has since replaced these with replacement staff, a situation that has no precedent since the Great Depression.

"The company has done it [found replacement staff] openly and methodically," says a labor researcher, an analyst at Arena Idé, a think tank supported by Swedish trade unions.

"It is not against the law, which is important to recognize. But it goes against all traditional practices. But Tesla doesn't care about norms.

"They aim to become norm breakers. So if somebody tells them, hey, you are breaking a standard, they see this as a compliment."

The company's Swedish subsidiary refused attempts for interview in an email mentioning "all-time high deliveries".

Indeed, the automaker has given only one media interview during the entire period since the industrial action began.

In March 2024, the local division's "country lead", the executive, told a business paper that it benefited the organization better to avoid a union contract, and rather "to work closely with employees and provide them the best possible conditions".

The executive rejected that the decision not to enter a collective agreement was determined by US leadership in the US. "We have authorization to make independent such decisions," he said.

IF Metall is not completely isolated in this conflict. This industrial action has received backing from several of labor organizations.

Dockworkers in nearby Scandinavian nations, Norway & neighboring states, decline to handle the company's vehicles; rubbish is not removed from the automaker's Swedish facilities; and newly built power points remain linked to the grid across the nation.

Exists an example close to the capital's airport, at which 20 charging units stand idle. However Tibor Blomhäll, the president of an owner's club the Swedish Tesla association, states vehicle owners remain unaffected by the strike.

"There's an alternative power point 10km from here," he says. "Plus we are able to continue to buy our cars, we can service our cars, we can charge our electric cars."

With stakes significant for all parties, it's hard to see a resolution to the stand-off. IF Metall risks setting a precedent should it surrender the fundamental concept of negotiated labor contracts.

"The worry is that this could expand," says Mr Bender, "and eventually {erode