For the previous a number of months, Tesla has been locked in a battle of wills with the labor unions of Sweden. The corporate’s refusal to ratify a collective bargaining agreement with a small variety of staff related to the Swedish union IF Metall has led to boycotts by different regional unions, turning what ought to have been a shortly resolved dispute into an ongoing catastrophe for the electrical automobile firm.
This week, yet another humiliation was visited upon the agency: A further labor union has determined to take motion towards the automobile producer, and this time the top end result may very well be the stifling of Tesla charging stations all through the nation. The Swedish Union for Service and Communications Workers, or Seko, printed a statement Wednesday, asserting it could be initiating a “sympathy” motion towards Tesla over its anti-union insurance policies:
“IF Metall’s struggle can be our struggle. By refusing to adjust to the principles of the sport right here in Sweden, Tesla is attempting to realize a aggressive benefit by giving the employees worse wages and circumstances than they might have with a collective settlement. It’s after all utterly unacceptable. The struggle that IF Metall is now taking is essential for all the Swedish collective settlement mannequin. That’s the reason we have now chosen to concern one other sympathy discover and improve the strain on Tesla.”
The influence right here may very well be dangerous for Tesla, as Seko, which does essential electrical work all through the nation, has promised to halt all “planning, preparation, new connections, community enlargement, service, upkeep and repairs concerning all the automobile model Tesla’s charging stations in Sweden.” Elektrek has noted that the transfer may cease the launch of all new Tesla Superchargers inside the nation.
Over the previous a number of months, unions all through Sweden and different elements of Europe have banded together to guard Scandinavia’s labor mannequin from Tesla’s tried disruption. So-called “sympathy” actions or strikes are a technique by which unions in a roundabout way linked to a specific battle can categorical their help and put strain on an offending firm. Because of this, Tesla’s headquarters in Sweden have been subjected to a variety of actions. Dock staff, electricians, postal staff, and even garbage collectors have all deserted the corporate’s places of work, inflicting severe points for the corporate.
Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has made it clear that he doesn’t like unions—which doesn’t make him notably distinctive, so far as the billionaire-class goes. That mentioned, Musk’s anti-union stance is especially pronounced, even amongst his friends. He has repeatedly expressed his disdain for collective bargaining and, throughout one notably impressed bout of rhetorical bullshit, said of organized labor: “I simply don’t like something which creates type of a lords and peasants kind of factor”—which is a tremendous assertion coming from a man whose cumulative wealth rivals that of any feudal lord in historical past.
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