Tesla’s decision to not sign a collective agreement with its service workers in Sweden may now affect Superchargers as another union joins the fight.
For the past four months, Tesla service workers in Sweden have been on strike in order to get included in a collective agreement.
The automaker has always had a hard stance against unions, and it has thus far been able to fend off unionization efforts at its manufacturing facilities.
This one in Sweden seemed manageable. It’s only affecting a few dozen workers, but Tesla underestimated the solidarity of workers in Sweden.
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 workers 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 action against Tesla, even outside of Sweden. Unions in Denmark and Norway have banded together to boycott Tesla operations until they agree to a collective agreement with its service workers.
Now, the Swedish Union for Service and Communications Employees (Seko) has entered the fight.
Seko’s union president, Gabriella Lavecchia, announced:
“IF Metall’s fight is also our fight. By refusing to comply with the rules of the game here in Sweden, Tesla is trying to gain a competitive advantage by giving the workers worse wages and conditions than they would have with a collective agreement. It is of course completely unacceptable. The fight that IF Metall is now taking is important for the entire Swedish collective agreement model. That is why we have chosen to issue another sympathy notice and increase the pressure on Tesla.”
Seko’s effort will take the form of a “blockade of work with planning, preparation, new connections, network expansion, service, maintenance and repairs regarding all of the car brand Tesla’s charging stations in Sweden.”
Top comment by Big Daddy
The Scandinavian countries have he highest standard of living on earth. One of the biggest reasons for this is the strength and breadth of unions in the country. Where unions are strong, you have the most prosperous middle class populations on earth.
Along comes Elon, with his blueprint for busting the entire union paradigm in Sweden, and anywhere else that he is able. Let's be clear here. If you don't recognize that Elon Musk is the enemy of the wellbeing of the middle class wherever he does business, then you don't understand the situation. Rest assured that Swedish workers DO understand the situation. This is a life and death struggle for them. They don't want to go down the same path as the American public. Look at the prosperity ratings for the American middle class and the union movement. As unions strengthened, so did the middle class. As unions have lost strength, the middle class has lost buying power right along side. The graph is stunning. The two lines run in parallel.
In effect, it will likely block Tesla from launching new Superchargers in the country, and it could cause issues repairing existing ones.
Electrek’s Take
It’s hard to see a resolution here since Elon reportedly didn’t give any room for negotiation to Tesla Sweden.
It looks like they are at an impasse, and the pressure is mounting with more unions joining the fight. Seko is a big one.
Is Elon finally going to show some flexibility with unions or will he keep his zealot stance against them? What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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