The labor dispute over Tesla’s refusal to sign a collective wage agreement in Sweden has escalated into a dramatic labor battle.
Unions representing multiple industries announced this week that they would join the strike in solidarity with IF Metall, the Tesla mechanics’ trade union.
The standoff started in late October with a walkout led by IF Metall.
In Sweden, which doesn’t have minimum wage legislation for workers, about 90% of employees are covered by collective agreements involving unions and employers.
IF Metall describes the agreements as “the backbone of the Swedish model” and said it’s been trying to negotiate one with Tesla for the last five years.
The union said Tesla wages are below the industry average in Sweden, and it wants to secure better pensions and insurance guarantees.
so they dont sell in sweden then? is it a huge market?
Well, if they don’t play by Swedish rules they aren’t going to be allowed at the table. And the Swedish unions are the ones enforcing that.
It’s not insignificant. It’s Tesla’s 5th biggest in Europe and Tesla’s were making up 60% of new car sales in Sweden.
Problem for Tesla is even if they pull out of the market all the cars they already sold will need servicing. So the mechanics union will strike and demand a collective bargaining agreement, then what choice does Tesla have?
Sweden isn’t a huge market. The EU is the biggest market of (relatively) affluent customers in the world.
Tesla are simply under the misapprehension that negotiating a collective wage agreement is a choice in the EU, rather than just how things are done over here.