The Tesla Workers’ Standoff: Does the Swedish Labor System Stand Up to Musk? Comments on the Tesla Workplace Trade Unions’ Discrimination Against Musk

The standoff in Sweden is the biggest union action the company has faced anywhere in the world. Sweden doesn’t have laws that set working conditions, such as a minimum wage. Instead these rules are dictated by collective agreements, a type of contract that defines the benefits employees are entitled to, such as wages and working hours. The union that represents theTesla mechanics has been trying to bargain with the company for five years. When Tesla refused, the mechanics decided to strike at the end of October. Then they asked fellow Swedish unions to join them.

Goran Larsson, a cargo ship inspector, said he’s informing the crew on each arriving vessel of the labor action and assessing whether any Teslas are on board.

Swedish dockworkers, electricians, cleaners and other workers have decided to boycott the U.S. company in solidarity.

Tommy Wreeth, chairman of the transport workers’ union, said the Swedish labor system is based on collective bargaining agreements, which Tesla, led by the staunchly anti-union Elon Musk, is reluctant to embrace.

“Sweden has been regulated like this for a long time and we believe this is the way to regulate working conditions in our country,” said the IF Metall spokesman. “It has been very beneficial for both parties – both for employers and for employees.”

The Swedish labor system is built on trade unions and they feel the EV maker’s attempts to circumvent them is an attack on them.

“It’s very important to protect our model – it’s a fight for the model, not just for the Tesla workers,” Wreeth said, referring to his union’s solidarity boycott.

“We already offer equivalent or better agreements than those covered by collective bargaining and find no reason to sign any other agreement,” Tesla told TT.

“If the Tesla workers in Sweden would manage to sign the first collective agreement ever with Tesla, I think that could have a symbolic importance in other markets,” Bender said.

But German Bender, a labor market analyst at Stockholm think tank Arena Idé, said it’s unlikely Tesla will leave Sweden. He believes that the Swedish unions will not give up anytime soon and that their fight is too important to abandon.

The Swedish transport workers’ union received messages of support from unions in other countries, including the US and Canada, according to a former dockworker who now works for the union.