24 October, 2024It’s been a year since Swedish union IF Metall called for a strike against Tesla, as the US car manufacturer refuses to negotiate a collective agreement. In a labour market governed by dialogue between employers and unions for the last 100 years, going on strike represents a rare breakdown in a country where nearly 90 per cent of the workforce is covered by a collective agreement.
A year on, Tesla is still refusing to enter into dialogue with IF Metall and have taken the extremely rare measure of importing scabs, flying in staff from other Tesla garages in Europe to replace the striking workers in Sweden.
But support for the strike, and the will to defend the Swedish model, is strong. In Sweden, twelve other unions have joined what is called sympathy strikes. Unions representing electricians, longshore men and postal delivery, are taking action meaning, among other things, that Tesla cars are not offloaded in Swedish ports, no work is done on Tesla charging stations and registration plates are not delivered. The sympathy strikes have also spread to the ports in neighbouring Nordic countries, where Danish, Norwegian and Finnish unions are taking action.
The picket line outside Tesla garages are manned not only by striking Tesla workers, but workers from companies with collective agreements with IF Metall. In a show of solidarity, IndustriALL and ITUC visited the striking workers in Gothenburg earlier this month.
Workers from Volvo Trucks stood strong outside the garage on a picket line manned for eight hours per day, seven days a week. IF Metall sets up a roster using workers from companies in the region with a collective agreement. The workers is allowed time off for strike action and IF Metall pays the wages for the strike days.
The Norwegian Government Pension Fund, one of the largest pension funds in the world, owns around one per cent of Tesla, making it one of the largest owners. The CEO of the fund recently told Swedish radio that they meet Tesla management and board on a regular basis and continue to repeat the need for a collective agreement to be signed.
Says IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie:
“It has been a year of strike at Tesla and Elon Musk’s total disrespect for the Swedish model, which has successfully governed the country’s labour market for nearly 100 years, stands in stark contrast to other multinational companies in the country. It is unacceptable and the striking workers have the full support of the 50 million members of IndustriALL behind them.”