Swedish Tesla employees to go on strike, could cause Tesla to leave the country unless Elon gives in to demands set by the union.
by Swe1990
Swedish Tesla employees to go on strike, could cause Tesla to leave the country unless Elon gives in to demands set by the union.
by Swe1990
22 comments
Google translate:
The strike brawl: “Tesla can leave Sweden”
For five years, Tesla has refused to offer its employees a collective agreement – now the union has taken the heaviest artillery, and gone on strike.
A possible consequence is that Tesla leaves Sweden completely, and that the resale value of Tesla cars drops.
– Musk wants to be able to manage his company in his own way, without someone from outside coming in and poking and deciding, says Effie Karabuda, tech reporter at P3.
In one corner of the ring stands one of the world’s richest men, whose goal is to take humans to Mars and who, with his many controversial statements, has become a watershed in the tech world.
In the other, a former operating technician from the industries in Stenungsund, now a union veteran and active in the union for several decades.
It is easy to draw a David versus Goliath parallel between Marie Nilsson’s IF Metall and Elon Musk’s Tesla. In a sense, that is true. With his 2,193 billion kroner in wealth, and with Tesla as the largest asset, Elon Musk has declared war on the Swedish model by refusing to sign a collective agreement.
– We haven’t really been involved in this in this format before. It remains to be seen what happens, says Marie Nilsson, union president at IF Metall.
On the other hand, the process and negotiations proceed exactly as it would have done if it had been about a smaller Swedish company.
Almost.
– The tricky thing here is that we have an employer, the Swedish management, who has no mandate to make decisions. It’s very strange, says Marie Nilsson.
“Musk wants to be able to rule in his own way”
Tesla began to establish itself on the Swedish market in 2013. now it has eleven stores, and their Model Y is the country’s most common electric car. But it is their nine so-called service centers that are affected by IF Metall’s strike, which came into effect on October 27. During Friday, further workshops are expected to be affected, after IF Metall extended the notice.
THESE ARE AFFECTED BY THE NEW NOTICE
“All workers, total stoppage and blockade of all work done on Tesla cars in workshops” in fifteen locations.
The towns are: Halmstad, Malmö, Södertälje, Gothenburg, Örebro, Norrköping, Stockholm, Danderyd, Linköping, Kungälv, Kungsbacka, Helsingborg, Arlöv, Uppsala, Jönköping.
The workshops’ work with other car brands is not covered by the strike notice.
The measures will come into force on Friday 3 November 2023 at 00:01.
Source: IF Metall.
Taking industrial action, as it is called in trade union contexts, to get the signing of a collective agreement through is unusual.
So why are they required against Tesla?
“Worked hard on employees who wanted to organize”
According to Effie Karabuda, tech reporter at P3, it is partly due to an American, hostile attitude towards unions and collective agreements, but also the personal values of CEO and founder Elon Musk.
– We have known for several years that Musk has been hard on employees who in some way wanted to organize themselves into a union, she says.
In March, a court found that Tesla illegally fired an employee for his involvement in the union, and that Elon Musk, in a post on X, illegally threatened his employees with revoking their employee stock options (a right to buy a share in the future for a predetermined price) if they joined unions. The New York Times reported.
Elon Musk’s political moves have been many, some of them more controversial than others.
Earlier this week, he took part in Joe Rogan’s podcast, where he claimed he bought Twitter – now X – because he thought the platform helped spread the culture of wokeness, (a term often used to condescend to describe a person’s awareness of social injustices) , which the billionaire calls a “virus”. Musk bought Twitter for 44 billion dollars – now he himself states that it is worth less than half.
“Perhaps easier to leave Sweden completely”
If Tesla and Elon Musk finally succumb to the Swedish model, then it will be the first time that Tesla, anywhere in the world, signs an agreement with the union.
– Tesla is so resourceful that it is easier for them to find new employees than to try to convert employees who are critical. Maybe it’s even easier to just leave Sweden completely, if the staff is too much of a hassle, notes Effie Karabuda.
Charlotta Byringer, political scientist and expert on business culture, is on the same track – Elon Musk can afford to refuse to bend down.
– Musk has an awful lot of money behind him, and there is, of course, an understanding of his own financial muscles and thus also his influence. There is probably a lot that makes them feel strong in their position, then they are inclined to challenge a system.
An exit from Sweden would mean possible consequences for both service opportunities and Tesla’s network of fast chargers in Sweden, says Jan-Erik Berggren, reporter and car tester for Teknikens Värld.
– I hope that in that case Tesla lets other companies handle service and maintenance and sell spare parts so that the cars that roll on the roads work. But the resale value of Tesla cars would drop, I’m pretty sure of that.
Heléne Lilja, community manager at M Sweden, also sees more far-reaching consequences:
– It would be a severe blow to Sweden’s transition policy, which is largely based on electrification, if one of the leading electric car suppliers withdrew from the country.
/Google Translate
Been on strike since friday
Elmo would rather leave Sweden because his big ego can’t allow anyone to defy his wishes.
Good luck to the workers
Good luck with the strike! Fuck the muskrat
[Someone is lying](https://insideevs.com/news/693890/tesla-sweden-employees-refuse-join-strike-say-there-no-need-for-it/).
Muskrat is never going to allow Tesla workers to unionize. He’d rather leave the country. But our country, our rules. The Americans are no strangers to this practice themselves.
Go build your trash in North Korea Musk
Every 5th car in Stockholm is a Tesla (only a slight exaggeration), so this is huge.
The best thing about this whole situation is that Tesla is kind of fucked how ever this goes.
Swedish unions won’t cave on this issue, because it threatens to upend the whole Swedish union system.
If they choose to leave Sweden, they’ll miss out on a big EV market that’s only growing.
If they agree to a collective agreement in Sweden then other European unions will demand the same thing.
Good riddance Muskrat, fuck off then. Not even Apple could bend Europe to their will.
…will be interesting to see if the only US car brand with some life in it will sabotage itself, to stroke the ego of its CEO.
EU is a huge market (one comparable to US), leaving it since unions are a thing is not exactly gonna help sales.
Frankyl “traditional” US car manufacturers are in a downward spiral since decades thanks to shortterm/shortsighted focus on quarterly gains, and ignoring future profitability. Will be interesting to see if the only US car brand with decent car sales abroad will also perform seppuku, for even more moronic reason.
To boost the ego of CEO.
On the first day of the strike, Tesla brought in scabs to work in their shops.
>”Tesla can leave Sweden”
Bye, don’t let the välfärd hit you on the way out!
Good.
Wait until he sees the french strike.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
I hate unions. Always very quickly become centers of corruption and protect the incompetent. And operate similar to mafia & gangs.
If you don’t like the job quit and get another one. If you can’t find a job on the market that pay what you want anywhere then most likely your demands are unreasonable.
Funny enough at many Tesla locations not a single or very few workers went home, especially in the south where everything appears to be as normal.
At other locations Tesla taxied in replacement employees so even those locations remain open.
Swedish tech firms Klarna and Spotify also refuse to agree to extortion so battles will ensue.
The age of the union is coming to an end, the age of freedom awaitis.
The European Union should force us companies to accept unions unionwide, or force them to leave the EU.
The US might like their 18th century work culture where an employee can be fired at any moment for any reason and has little to no protection, but in Europe we are a bit more developed than that.
Gotta be honest, I find it quite funny when American companies get pressured by unions in other countries after busting unions back home.
Good riddance
Respekt our laws or get the fuck out Elon!