Tesla's Swedish Labor Situation Is Getting Harder To Ignore

A Swedish trade union is demanding Tesla sign a collective bargaining agreement – something most employees in the Scandinavian country have – or workers will expand their strike, according to the Associated Press. The Austin, Texas-based non-union automaker doesn’t have any manufacturing plants in Sweden, but 130 members of the powerful IF Metall metalworkers’ union – which represents 300,000 workers across the country – walked out on October 27 at seven workshops that service Teslas across the country.

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A number of other trade unions, including dockworkers at Sweden’s four largest ports, joined in solidarity. Workers at the port decided to stop delivery of Teslas to increase pressure on the automaker to accept the metal workers’ demands, the AP says. Additionally, the Painters’ Union said 53 painting companies wouldn’t do any work on Tesla vehicles in an effort to support IF Metall. That number could reach 109 companies if a deal isn’t in place by November 14.

Just to turn the heat up even more, the Swedish Union for Services and Communications Employees said it will halt shipments to Tesla on November 20. The head of the company called Tesla’s actions “completely unacceptable.”

This movement seems to now be reaching well beyond workers involved with Tesla.

Sweden’s former Social Democratic prime minister, Stefan Löfven, who once headed IF Metall, also encouraged Swedes to suspend purchases of Teslas until an agreement is signed.

“Shame on you, Tesla, shame on you,” Löfven wrote on Facebook on Oct. 26.

Unsurprisingly, Tesla – which entered Sweden in 2013 – has pushed back on these unionization efforts and has told Swedish media that it followed Swedish labor market rules, according to The New York Times.

“It is unfortunate that IF Metall has taken these measures,” Tesla told TT in an emailed statement. “We already offer equivalent or better agreements than those covered by collective bargaining and find no reason to sign any other agreement.”

Tesla also said it was committed to “remaining available to our customers” during the strike.

That appeared to be the case on Tuesday at a Tesla facility in Segeltorp, a suburb of Stockholm, where customers were dropping off and picking up their cars and mechanics were seen coming and going. They declined to speak with a reporter.

IF Metall has said it believes that Tesla has hired outside workers to replace striking employees, but this could not be independently confirmed. “We know that Tesla has people who are not part of the ordinary workforce working in some locations,” said Jesper Pettersson, the union’s spokesman.

Some Tesla owners arriving to have their cars serviced appeared to be nonplused by the labor actions.

The unions supporting IF Metall have said they are not only trying to improve working conditions for Tesla mechanics, but they are also aiming to defend Sweden’s longstanding organized labor system that covers about 90 percent of the workers in the country.

“If we let this go, it puts a crack in the whole system,” Tommy Wreeth, Swedish Transport Workers Union head told the Times. “This isn’t just about the metalworkers’ and transport workers’ unions. This is important because the whole Swedish model is at stake.”

IF Metall and its supporters say Tesla employees don’t have the annual wage increases, insurance and pension coverage and other benefits they would get if they were under an industrywide collective agreement.