Elon Musk and Tesla simply have to obey normal Swedish labour laws and practices. With this as a starting point, the unions – who quickly gained support from others, have put a hold on Tesla’s business in the biggest Scandinavian country.
On 27 October, the metal workers union IF Metall took out Tesla personnel at all production and service locations of the US car brand in Sweden. Their only question: Tesla will have to sign a collective labour agreement, common in most business sectors of Sweden, for the protection of its workers. Tesla refuses.
Mail people support: No license plates
Since then the strike got support from e.g. the Swedish mail men and women delivering the license plates for new Teslas. They refuse, with Musk urging Postnord to correct its workers. Something the Swedish mail company refuses to do, as they say they do not feel responsible for action by its individual workers. In other words, Postnord’s leadership supports its personnel and the striking crews of Tesla Sweden.
Moreover, a court in Western Sweden prohibited Tesla to fetch the license plates for its clients cars itself. A lower judge earlier ruled it was okay, but the decision was successfully appealed by the Swedish Transport Authority (Transportstyrelsen).
Garbage collectors join
On 14 December the Transport workers union announced it will stop all garbage collection and handling for Tesla Sweden on 24 December, if Tesla keeps refusing to sign the collective agreement for its personnel.
Denmark and Finland support
Since the beginning of December, the Swedish fight against Tesla is also supported in Finland and Denmark. Harbour workers are refusing to load and handle Tesla cars, and in Denmark truck drivers are refusing to drive the cars that are destined for Sweden. Therefore, Tesla has only one alternative left, to drive the cars to Sweden from Germany. German labour laws apparently give no possibility for a support strike. But Dirk Schulze, a district chef for the powerful German union IG Metall says to Swedish media that Musk’s way of treating his personnel are already outdated since a 100 years ago. (click here to see the reporting by SVT).
New investigation: “Child labour in “Tesla mines””
Investigative journalists of the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet recently reported that child labour in mines in Madagascar can be connected to at least 51 documented deliveries of raw materials to Tesla’s US factories – purchased by Tesla via two Chinese companies that by the minerals from the mines. (click here to see the reporting by Aftonbladet)
Tesla’s head man Elon Musk himself reacted – as usual – via the social media platform he owns. He recently commented only briefly on the Swedish situation as “insane” (click here to see Musk’s tweet). | © Text and featured image 2023 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com.