Sweden’s unions describe Tesla’s refusal to sign a collective agreement as a threat to the “Swedish model.” That’s why hundreds of employees in Sweden have already joined a strike, which recently led to Tesla suing the Swedish Post Office.
• Swedish unions are calling on Tesla to sign a collective agreement
• Tesla’s refusal is a threat to the Swedish working model
• Tesla has already achieved initial success with a lawsuit
Trade unions in Sweden call for a strike
In Sweden, various unions are calling for a strike. This started with IF Metall, which wants to enforce a collective agreement at Tesla in Sweden, as the AFP reports. That’s why the union initially called around 130 employees in ten Tesla workshops for industrial action at the end of October. Since then, the strike has grown. This was followed in November by 470 employees in workshops where cars from different manufacturers are repaired, as well as employees in four ports who blocked the loading of Tesla vehicles. A total of nine unions have so far announced their own measures in solidarity with IF Metall. Tesla boss Elon Musk has repeatedly rejected calls for unionization of employees in the past. Around 127,000 people work for the electric car manufacturer worldwide.
Threat to Swedish model
Marie Nilsson, union leader of IF Metall in Sweden, tells the Financial Times that Tesla’s refusal to sign a collective agreement in Sweden risks jeopardizing the long-term future of the Swedish model that has underpinned the Scandinavian country’s decades of economic success . The so-called Swedish model, which emerged between unions and employers in 1938, stipulates that labor market conditions in Sweden, including wages, are set by these two parties and not by the government. Both union and business leaders credit the system with a low strike rate and believe it is crucial to the success of Sweden, a country of 10 million people and home to manufacturers such as Volvo Car and Northvolt.
Nilsson explained that a significant threat to the Swedish model lies in a new EU minimum wage directive, which sets a fixed level for the minimum wage rather than leaving it to an agreement between employers and unions. However, Sweden received a waiver stating that the directive would not apply to countries where more than 80 percent of workers are covered by collective agreements. In Sweden, one of Europe’s most unionized countries, around 90 percent of workers are protected by such agreements. “If Tesla shows that it is possible to operate in Sweden without a collective agreement, other companies may be tempted to do the same. We have a successful model in Sweden. We have tried to explain it. Conflicts of this kind are very rare.” said Nilsson.
Union leaders emphasize that they have sufficient resources to provide long-term support to striking workers. They currently receive around 130 percent of their wages from the unions to also cover vacation and pensions. The emergency fund used for these payments is rarely used. Nilsson therefore explained: “We can continue for many decades to come.”
Tesla goes to court over strikes
On November 20, PostNord workers also joined the industrial action aimed at forcing Tesla to sign a collective agreement for mechanics in Sweden. Postal employees blocked the delivery of license plates for new vehicles. On Friday, Musk described the postal workers’ actions as “crazy.” Most recently, the strike between unions and the US electric car maker escalated when Tesla filed two lawsuits against the Swedish state and the Swedish Postal Service on Monday, alleging that denying access to license plates “constitutes an unlawful, discriminatory attack on Tesla.” The authority has “a constitutional obligation to provide vehicle owners with license plates,” reports Manager Magazin.
According to the lawsuit, reported by Manager Magazine The Associated Press, Tesla wants the district court to order the agency to pay a fine of one million crowns (about $95,000). This is intended to “urge” the Swedish Transport Authority to allow Tesla to “obtain license plates” within three days of the court decision being announced.
As the Reuters news agency reports, citing the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, Tesla has already achieved initial success in the dispute. A court ruled on Monday that the country’s transportation authority must find a way to deliver license plates to Tesla that are blocked by postal workers. The decision came just a few hours after Tesla sued PostNord.
The Norrköping District Court ruled that the authority is obliged to hand over the license plates to Tesla within seven days, otherwise a fine of one million Swedish kroner must be paid. “It is correct that a decision has been made that supports Tesla’s position,” Johannes Ericsson, Tesla’s lawyer, told Aftonbladet.
It remains to be seen how the industrial dispute between the Swedish unions and Tesla will continue.
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