The collective bargaining dispute between the Swedish union IF Metall and the US car manufacturer Tesla is expanding. The Finnish trade union AKT announced that it would no longer load the group’s cars for shipment to Sweden from December 20th. Dock workers in Sweden, Norway and Denmark had already taken or announced corresponding steps. This means that Tesla can effectively no longer ship cars to Sweden.
The pressure also increased from other quarters: The Danish fund PensionDanmark announced that it had sold shares in the group worth around 64 million euros because of Tesla’s stance.
IF Metall is fighting for a collective agreement for Tesla mechanics in Sweden; their strike began in October. Since then, numerous other sectors have joined the industrial action with solidarity strikes. Among other things, the postal service PostNord refuses to deliver license plates to Tesla.
Elon Musk calls strike “madness”
According to the strikers, the Swedish collective bargaining system would be at risk if Tesla prevails. The US company rejects such contracts and said it would offer better conditions on its own initiative. Tesla boss Elon Musk wrote about the PostNord strike on his news service X: “This is crazy.”
Scandinavia and Northern Europe are an important business area for Tesla. Norway was its fourth-largest market for new car sales last year, with Sweden the fifth-largest.
The collective bargaining dispute between the Swedish union IF Metall and the US car manufacturer Tesla is expanding. The Finnish trade union AKT announced that it would no longer load the group’s cars for shipment to Sweden from December 20th. Dock workers in Sweden, Norway and Denmark had already taken or announced corresponding steps. This means that Tesla can effectively no longer ship cars to Sweden.
The pressure also increased from other quarters: The Danish fund PensionDanmark announced that it had sold shares in the group worth around 64 million euros because of Tesla’s stance.