It’s not just the snow that’s paralyzing tesla. He Job issue reported six weeks ago in Sweden has given a new twist in the script in recent hours when two of the largest unions of Denmark and Norway have announced that they are joining the protest against the automobile company and that they will block the export of their electric vehicles.
Danish and Norwegian support intensifies the Nordic pulse for Tesla and doubles the pressure on its co-founder and CEO, the controversial tycoon Elon Musk. And the American manufacturer sells approximately twice as many cars in Norway as it does in Sweden, where it all began.
On October 24, a group of 130 Swedish Tesla mechanics decided to declare themselves in strike given the firm’s refusal to agree on a collective agreement that recognizes basic rights of workers such as their minimum salary, working hours or pensions. The lack of labor laws means that almost 90% of employees in Sweden depend on this mechanism, agreed between employers and unions.
Tesla’s rejection stance generated a wave of indignation, but also of worker solidarity. And, like a snowball, it ended up growing until the protest amplified. Stevedores, electricians, workers and IF Metall, the largest Swedish union, have joined the production stoppage for fear that the manufacturer of cars sets a precedent that jeopardizes their labor rights.
Support from Denmark and Norway
This solidarity It is also transnational. In Denmark, workers have watched with fear what is happening in the neighboring country. That is why the 3F union, the one with the most members, announced on Tuesday that both its stevedores as drivers will stop transporting Tesla vehicles to Sweden, where it operates several service centers.
“They are currently waging a battle incredibly important. When they ask us for support, we participate, of course,” said Jan Villadsen, head of 3F Transport. The union leader also left a message for Musk: “Even if you are one of the richest people in the world, you can’t make your own rules. We have some agreements on the working market in the Nordic countries and if you want to do business here you have to comply.
The Norwegian union Fellesforbundet, the largest private sector union in the Scandinavian country, assured this Wednesday that they will also join the protest. Thus, as of December 20, they will begin to block shipments of Tesla cars destined for the Swedish market. The union organization has assured that with this it intends to send a “clear signal to Tesla.” “The right to demand a collective agreement is an obvious part of our working life and we cannot accept that Tesla is on the sidelines,” explained his representative, Joern Eggum.
Musk, against the unions
Related news
On November 28, almost a month after the start of that workers’ revolt, Tesla presented a complaint against “the Swedish State through the Swedish Transport Agency” because public postal employees also decided to join the strike and blocked the delivery of license plates, which has made the sale of new vehicles impossible.
Musk called the strikes “madness.” “I don’t agree with the idea of unions. I just don’t like anything that creates a lords and peasants type thing,” he said at an event last week. The anti-union policies They are common among the technological giants of Silicon Valleyfrom amazon to Google.