The strikes at Tesla in Sweden are becoming increasingly widespread. After workers in Denmark and Norway, the Finnish union has now joined the protest actions.
The power struggle between the Swedish union IF Metall and the US car manufacturer Tesla is spreading to other Scandinavian countries. Yesterday, the Finnish trade union AKT announced that it would no longer load electric cars from Elon Musk’s group for shipment to Sweden from December 20th.
A bitter blow for Tesla
Only in the middle of the week did the largest Norwegian union Fellesforbundet announce that it would block transport of Tesla deliveries to Sweden from December 20th. The day before, Denmark’s largest union, 3F, declared its solidarity with Swedish Tesla workers who are pushing for a collective agreement with the US company. “Port workers and shippers will no longer unload or transport Tesla cars to Sweden,” 3F announced. Dock workers in Sweden had previously taken similar steps.
For the electric car manufacturer, the solidarity of dock workers in Denmark, Norway and now also Finland with the strikers in Sweden is a bitter blow. Ultimately, Tesla can effectively no longer ship cars to Sweden – the pressure on the US company is increasing.
Postmen don’t deliver TeslaLicense plates more to
The conflict began with a strike by employees in Swedish Tesla workshops at the end of October. The Swedish union IF Metall is demanding a collective agreement from Tesla for its members – which the US car manufacturer rejects. Since then, numerous other professional groups have joined the strike in solidarity, including freight forwarders, dock workers, cleaners and postmen. They all fail to serve the electric car company – with severe consequences.
Tesla in Sweden is now running out of license plates because employees of the postal and logistics company PostNord are no longer sending stickers to the car company. According to the strikers, the Swedish collective bargaining system would be at risk if Tesla prevails. The US company rejects such contracts and has stated that it is offering better conditions on its own initiative.
Musk speaks of “madness”
Tesla boss Elon Musk wrote about the PostNord strike on his news service X: “This is crazy.” The electric car manufacturer filed a lawsuit against PostNord at the end of November. The Swedish judge recently said that it could take several weeks until a final decision is made in the dispute over the license plates.
Pressure on Tesla has also recently increased from other quarters. The Danish fund PensionDanmark told the Reuters news agency that because of Tesla’s stance, the fund sold shares in the group worth around 64 million euros.
Northern Europe is an important market for Tesla. Norway was the group’s fourth-largest market for new car sales last year, and Sweden was the fifth-largest. Despite the power struggle in Scandinavia, Tesla shares rose 1.4 percent to $242.64 on the US technology exchange Nasdaq yesterday.
Bianca von der Au, HR, tagesschau, December 8th, 2023 3:19 p.m