Swedish Tesla strike expands to include charging stations
An almost four-month long strike in Sweden against carmaker Tesla over its refusal to sign a collective wage agreement will be extended to include a blockade on charging stations, a union said.
Swedish union Seko said it would halt maintenance on, and the installation of, Tesla charging stations.
The Swedish strike was launched by the metal workers' union IF Metall on October 27th when mechanics at 10 Tesla repair shops in seven cities walked off the job.
It has since grown into a larger conflict between Tesla and almost a dozen unions seeking to protect Sweden's labour model, including postal workers, dock workers and even spreading to neighbouring Nordic countries.
The Swedish Union for Service and Communications Employees (Seko) said its measures included "the blocking of work on planning, preparation, new connections, network expansion, service, maintenance and repairs for all Tesla charging stations in Sweden."
It said the industrial action would come into force on March 4th.
Negotiated sector by sector, collective agreements with unions are the basis of the Nordic labour market model, covering almost 90 percent of all employees in Sweden and 80 percent in Denmark, and guaranteeing wages and working conditions.
Despite the fact that many of Tesla's employees in Sweden are union members, they cannot benefit from the collective bargaining agreements unless Tesla signs on to them.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has long rejected calls to allow the company's 127,000 employees worldwide to unionise.
Earlier this week, newspaper DN reported that IF Metall was struggling to get mechanics to participate in the strike and cited statistics from the Swedish National Mediation Office which showed that only about a third of the some 130 Tesla mechanics had actually walked off the job.
IF Metall announced last week it would allow a temporary exemption to allow some repairs on older Tesla cars.
Comments
See Also
Swedish union Seko said it would halt maintenance on, and the installation of, Tesla charging stations.
The Swedish strike was launched by the metal workers' union IF Metall on October 27th when mechanics at 10 Tesla repair shops in seven cities walked off the job.
It has since grown into a larger conflict between Tesla and almost a dozen unions seeking to protect Sweden's labour model, including postal workers, dock workers and even spreading to neighbouring Nordic countries.
The Swedish Union for Service and Communications Employees (Seko) said its measures included "the blocking of work on planning, preparation, new connections, network expansion, service, maintenance and repairs for all Tesla charging stations in Sweden."
It said the industrial action would come into force on March 4th.
Negotiated sector by sector, collective agreements with unions are the basis of the Nordic labour market model, covering almost 90 percent of all employees in Sweden and 80 percent in Denmark, and guaranteeing wages and working conditions.
Despite the fact that many of Tesla's employees in Sweden are union members, they cannot benefit from the collective bargaining agreements unless Tesla signs on to them.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has long rejected calls to allow the company's 127,000 employees worldwide to unionise.
Earlier this week, newspaper DN reported that IF Metall was struggling to get mechanics to participate in the strike and cited statistics from the Swedish National Mediation Office which showed that only about a third of the some 130 Tesla mechanics had actually walked off the job.
IF Metall announced last week it would allow a temporary exemption to allow some repairs on older Tesla cars.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.