The strike by Tesla employees in Sweden expanded on Friday, the IF Metall union said, a week after it began to denounce the American automaker’s refusal to sign a collective agreement on wages.
• Also read: Sweden: Tesla employees go on strike
According to the union, the first phase of the strike affected 130 Tesla mechanics in ten workshops across Sweden.
On Friday, the movement expanded to include around 470 additional workers in 17 more workshops where Elon Musk’s flagship electric cars are repaired.
“These people will work as usual and carry out their tasks on other car models” but not on Teslas, IF Metall spokesman Jesper Pettersson told AFP.
According to him, the union met with representatives of the American electric car specialist during the week, and another meeting is planned for Monday.
He did not want to comment on the progress of the negotiations.
Collective agreements negotiated on a sector-by-sector basis form the basis of the Swedish labor market model. They cover almost 90% of all Swedish workers and guarantee them minimum wages and working conditions.
Despite being unionized, Tesla workers do not benefit from industry-specific collective bargaining agreements because their company has not signed the collective bargaining agreement applicable to their sector.
The manufacturer has always rejected calls for unionization among its 127,000 employees worldwide.
For its part, the Swedish transport workers union announced that it would support the IF Metall strike and threatened to block the “loading and unloading of Tesla cars” in four Swedish ports from November 7th – unless an agreement is reached by then.