An unexpected conflict between the world’s largest electric car manufacturer and one of Sweden’s major unions threatens to spread like an oil spill across northern Europe. Something like Tesla vs. Scandinavia. “Tesla builds climate-sustainable cars. It’s time to create sustainable working conditions for employees. “It’s time for a collective agreement!” shouted those in charge of IF Metall, the latest company…
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An unexpected conflict between the world’s largest electric car manufacturer and one of Sweden’s major unions threatens to spread like an oil spill across northern Europe. Something like Tesla vs. Scandinavia. “Tesla is making climate-sustainable cars. It’s time to create sustainable working conditions for employees. “It’s time for a collective agreement!” shouted those in charge of IF Metall, billionaire Elon Musk’s latest nightmare. His company does not manufacture in the Nordic countries, but 120 mechanics from seven workshops spread All over the country they repair cars when they have a problem. A month and a half ago, they went on strike to demand a collective agreement, but what may initially seem like a simple labor dispute given the sheer size of Tesla, with a global workforce of 127,000 employees, is gaining dimension week by week. .
The first support for the strikers came from the dock workers on 7 November. They banned Tesla cars from entering the four largest Swedish ports. Then in all of them. It was just the beginning of the boycott. Employees of the Elektrikerna power network refused to maintain Tesla Supercharger stations. Taxi drivers in Stockholm have threatened to suspend new car orders. Fifty workers from Hydro Extrusions, which supplies aluminum components used to enhance security to Tesla, stayed home or performed other tasks. Body painters have stopped painting Tesla cars. Cleaners did not clean their buildings. Even the Swedish Postal Service refused to provide license plates to Tesla, which in effect prevented the circulation of its new cars.
Musk’s response was twofold. On the one hand, Controversial CEO called Postal Service workers’ veto of X ‘insane’the social network of which he is the owner, and in an interview with New York times He even showed his disagreement with the idea of unions. The second front was judicial: he went to court to denounce the illegality of boycotting the postal service. However, the justices concluded Thursday that PostNord was not obligated to hand over the license plates.
The IF Metall union argues that collective agreements are the foundation of the Swedish business model, and that nearly nine out of ten workers are covered by them across the country, which has proven to be a successful formula for maintaining social peace. They insist that thanks to its presence certain working conditions are guaranteed sector by sector, from salaries to pensions, including the length of the day or holidays.
But the wave of union sympathy, the media resonance of the issue, and the disproportionate size of the enemy turned the fight against Tesla into more than just a simple battle for the rights of a few dozen mechanics. It has become a tense battle measuring the power of unions against that of multinational corporations, and its outcome may set precedents: If workers capitulate to Tesla, few companies will dare to embark on similar challenges in the future.
Denmark, Norway and Finland
The unions have shown an unexpected ability to mobilize, to the point of expanding the scope of the issue to include neighboring countries. The Danish 3F union, which asked its Swedish counterpart for help, announced on Tuesday that it would refuse to unload or transport cars manufactured by the American car company for customers in Sweden. Its president, Jan Villadsen, justified that “solidarity is the cornerstone of the trade union movement and extends beyond borders.” Also in Denmark, the pension fund said Reuters Which sold its stake amounting to 63 million euros in Tesla due to the company’s refusal to reach an agreement with the unions.
Norway and Finland could be the next two pieces in the chess game. First-country unions are analyzing their own response in a key country for Tesla, since in its fourth market — the top three are the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom — it sells more cars than it does in Sweden. The Finnish transport workers’ union, AKT, decided on Thursday to join the solidarity strike against Tesla, and stated that it would begin a blockade of Tesla vehicles bound for Sweden at all Finnish ports from December 20.
It remains to be seen to what extent the conflict translates into a blow to the company’s reputation, and if Tesla’s Scandinavian customers choose other alternatives in retaliation or decide to ignore the issue and choose to continue trusting the eighth brand in the world in terms of shares with a market capitalization of more than 700,000 million euros. It is far ahead of the rest of the competitors in its sector. It does not seem that Elon Musk, who is accustomed to moving like a fish in water amid scandals, will at this point begin to care what the rest of the world thinks of him or his company, but at least resist fiercely. The unions’ surrender would cost them a handful of millions.
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