What started as a fairly small strike of Tesla’s service workers in Sweden is now expanding to affect Tesla’s European operations.
Last month, Tesla service workers in Sweden started striking in order to get included in a collective agreement.
The automaker has always had a hard stance against unions, and it has been able to fend off unionization efforts at its manufacturing facilities.
This new effort seemed to be manageable for Tesla since it would just involve about 100 service workers in Sweden, but it has now grown into the most serious effort that Tesla had to deal with to date.
That’s because several other unions in the country have joined forces to mess with Tesla’s operations in order to put pressure on the company.
Port workers, electricians, and cleaning services that deal with Tesla in the country have refused to work with the company since the service workers announced the strike.
As we previously reported, Elon Musk has reportedly told Tesla Sweden that they are not allowed to sign any collective agreement with a union.
This zealot approach has stalled negotiations and encouraged more unions to take actions against Tesla, even outside of Sweden.
Yesterday, a union of port workers in Denmark said that they won’t move Tesla vehicles coming through their port.
Today, we learn that Fellesforbundets, Norway’s biggest private-sector union, is joining the fight against Tesla.
Top comment by M McBride
"As we previously reported, Elon Musk has reportedly told Tesla Sweden that they are not allowed to sign any collective agreement with a union."
The real issue is that Tesla refuses to negotiate or even discuss terms of a CBA (collective bargaining agreement), and without Tesla's involvement, there can be no CBA. The sentences above doesn't quite capture this.
In a press release today, they announced a boycott notice:
On Wednesday 6 December, the confederation sent a boycott notice to the car manufacturer Tesla in Sweden, Tesla AB. The boycott will be aimed at the transport of cars to the Swedish market.
For now, they plan to only affect vehicles going to Sweden, but the fact that they are joining the fight alone could put pressure on Tesla.
Norway is an important market for Tesla and if the union decides to also affect the delivery of cars in the country, it could put a lot more pressure on the company.
Will Tesla finally bend to the demand of a union? We will have to wait and see.
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