Trade unions in Sweden extend the blockade against Tesla
Tesla in Sweden: No production but a lot of sales.
Tesla does not produce vehicles in Sweden, but operates several facilities where the cars are maintained. So far this year, the Tesla Model Y is the best-selling new car in Sweden, with more than 14,000 registrations through October, according to Mobility Sweden, an industry group.
At the start of the mechanics’ strike, a Tesla representative told Swedish media that the company was following the country’s labor law and chose not to sign a collective agreement. The company said it would do everything it could to keep its operations running.
Quotable: ‘It is important and self-evident that we help.’
The Swedish Transport Workers’ Union, whose members work in Sweden’s ports, said in a statement that “it is both important and self-evident that we help, to stand up for the collective agreement and the Swedish labor market model.”
How it started: Tesla mechanics went on strike on October 27.
In late October, IF Metall, which represents 300,000 workers, including some Tesla mechanics, said in Sweden that talks with company representatives had ended without a solution. The union began strike action at Tesla’s twelve service centers on October 27.
Dock workers initially refused to unload Teslas at four major Swedish ports from November 7, which was expanded to Friday 55 ports.
Unions representing cleaners have also refused to service Tesla facilities, and the postal workers’ union prevented all deliveries from reaching the company’s sites.
Both IF Metall and the Transport Workers unions have acknowledged that Tesla has found ways around the strikes. Tesla appeared to be bringing in other mechanics to staff its facilities and deliver new vehicles to Sweden by truck, they said.
The strike efforts are also being hampered by some union members working for Tesla refusing to participate, Swedish media reported.
What other unions are saying: Germans have expressed their support.
In Germany, where Tesla produces the Model Y at a massive factory outside Berlin, union leaders have tried to organize the roughly 11,500 workers who work there. Tesla management has had no relations with the German car union IG Metall. Last month, several hundred workers wore union stickers calling for “safe and fair work.”
Dirk Schulze, the regional head of IG Metall in Brandenburg, where Tesla has its factory, has expressed solidarity with striking workers in Sweden. The strike in Sweden has given workers in Germany “the courage and confidence to organize themselves into a union and take their destiny into their own hands,” Schulze said in a statement.
The association has not yet announced any further measures.
What happens next: More strikes are planned in Sweden.
This week, IF Metall said that 50 of its members at Hydro Extrusions, a company that produces an aluminum part for Tesla, would leave their jobs next Friday.