Swedish Auto Mechanics Engage in Prolonged Industrial Action With Automotive Giant Tesla

In Sweden, around 70 car mechanics persist to challenge among the globe's wealthiest corporations – the electric vehicle manufacturer. This industrial action at the US carmaker's 10 Swedish repair facilities has now reached its second anniversary, and there is little indication of a resolution.

One striking worker has remained at the Tesla picket line starting from October 2023.

"It has been a difficult time," states the 39-year-old. And as the nation's cold seasonal conditions arrives, it is expected to become even tougher.

The mechanic devotes every start of the week with a fellow worker, standing outside an electric vehicle service center on an industrial park located in southern Sweden. His union, the Swedish metalworkers' union, supplies shelter via a portable construction vehicle, plus coffee & light meals.

But it's operations continue normally across the road, where the workshop seems to operate in full swing.

The strike involves a matter that reaches to the heart of Swedish industrial culture – the authority of trade unions to bargain for pay and conditions representing their workforce. This principle of collective agreement has underpinned labor dynamics in Sweden for nearly a century.

Currently some seventy percent of Scandinavia's employees belong of a trade union, while 90% are covered by a collective agreement. Labor stoppages across the nation are rare.

This is a system welcomed by all parties. "We prefer the right to bargain directly with worker representatives and sign collective agreements," states Mattias Dahl of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise employer group.

But Tesla has upset the apple cart. Vocal CEO the company leader has said he "disagrees" with the idea of labor organizations. "I just disapprove of anything which creates a sort of hierarchical situation," he told an audience at an event in 2023. "I think labor groups attempt to create negativity within businesses."

Tesla entered the Scandinavian market back in 2014, and the metalworkers' union has long wanted to secure a collective agreement with the automaker.

"Yet they did not reply," states the union president, the organization's president. "And we got the impression that they tried to avoid or not discuss this with us."

She states the union ultimately saw no other option than to call a strike, which started in late October, 2023. "Usually the threat suffices to make the threat," comments Ms Nilsson. "Employers usually signs the contract."

But this did not happen on this occasion.

Janis Kuzma, who is of Latvian origin, began employment with the automaker several years ago. He asserts that wages & work terms were often dependent on the discretion of managers.

He recalls a performance review at which he states he was refused an annual pay rise on grounds he was "not reaching Tesla's goals". Meanwhile, a colleague was said to have been rejected for increased compensation because having an "inappropriate demeanor".

However, not everyone went out in the industrial action. Tesla employed approximately 130 mechanics employed at the time the industrial action was initiated. The union says that today around seventy of its members are participating in the action.

Tesla has long since replaced the striking workers with replacement staff, a situation that has no precedent since the era of the Great Depression.

"Tesla has done it [found replacement staff] openly & systematically," states German Bender, an analyst at a research institute, a think tank financed by Scandinavian labor organizations.

"It's not illegal, which is important to recognize. But it goes against all traditional practices. But the company shows no concern for conventions.

"They aim to be convention challengers. Thus when somebody informs them, hey, you are violating a norm, they perceive this as a compliment."

The automaker's Swedish subsidiary declined attempts for comment via correspondence mentioning "record deliveries".

Indeed, the company has given only one media interview in the two years since the strike began.

In March 2024, the local division's "country lead", Jens Stark, informed a financial publication that it suited the organization better not to have a union contract, and rather "to collaborate directly with the team and give them the best possible terms".

Mr Stark denied that the choice not to enter a collective agreement was determined by US leadership overseas. "We have a mandate to make our own such decisions," he said.

The union is not entirely isolated in its fight. This industrial action has received backing from several of labor organizations.

Dockworkers in neighbouring Denmark, Norway and Finland, are refusing to process the company's vehicles; waste is no longer collected from the automaker's Swedish facilities; and recently constructed power points are not being connected to power networks in the country.

Exists an example close to the capital's airport, at which 20 chargers stand idle. But a Tesla enthusiast, the leader of enthusiasts group the Swedish Tesla association, says Tesla owners are unaffected by the strike.

"There's another charging station six miles from here," he says. "And we can still purchase vehicles, we can service our cars, we can charge our electric cars."

With consequences high for all parties, it is difficult to see an end to the stand-off. The union faces the danger of setting a precedent if it concedes the principle of collective agreement.

"The worry is how this could expand," states Mr Bender, "and ultimately {erode