A view shows the Malacca Highway ship on the shore as port workers block the loading of Tesla vehicles, in Malmo, Sweden, November 7, 2023. Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency/via Portal/File Photo acquire license rights
STOCKHOLM, Nov 17 (Portal) – Port workers in Sweden pledged on Friday to refuse to unload Tesla cars (TSLA.O) at all ports in the country as they continued their industrial action in line with Tesla workers’ demands collective agreements have expanded.
Tesla, co-founded by billionaire Elon Musk, does not produce in Sweden, but its electric cars are serviced by more than 120 mechanics affiliated with the Swedish union IF Metall, which began a strike on October 27.
Dock workers joined the mechanics’ strike on November 7 and blocked Sweden’s four largest ports for Tesla cars. This was expanded to all ports at 12pm (1100 GMT) on Friday.
A spokesman for the Transport union, whose members include port workers, said that Swedish ports often received one to three deliveries of Tesla cars per week, but no deliveries had arrived since the strike began.
“So the blockade is working,” said the spokesman.
US-based Tesla, which revolutionized the electric car market, has managed to avoid collective bargaining agreements regulating wages and working conditions with its roughly 127,000 workers, and Musk has been vocal about his opposition to unions.
Marie Nilsson, head of IF Metall, told Portal on Friday that the union had received some indications early in the dispute that Tesla was using strike-breaking tactics by flying workers in from other countries.
“We’ve never experienced anything like this before…we haven’t dealt with this in Sweden since around 1937,” says Nilsson.
“And that forced us to escalate the conflict,” she added.
If Sweden can break Tesla’s resistance, it could set a precedent for other countries.
So far, the unions in the USA and Germany have not succeeded in forcing the car manufacturer to accept collective agreements.
“Once they come to Sweden, they have to follow the rules. We have certain norms here and he (Musk) has to accept them,” said Torbjorn Johansson, negotiating secretary at the Swedish Trade Union Confederation LO.
“Swedish workers cannot afford to lose this fight.”
Swedish unions have succeeded before getting foreign companies to accept local industrial practices.
In the 1990s, the American toy company Toys “R” Us signed a collective agreement with its 130 Swedish employees after a three-month strike.
Nilsson said IF Metall has no plans to end the strike any time soon.
“As long as it’s necessary,” she said.
In addition to longshoremen, unionized cleaners are refusing to clean Tesla buildings and postal workers have stopped delivering mail.
On Friday, electricians stopped maintenance and repair work for Tesla, including at its charging stations across Sweden.
Swedish workers are also supported by the Norwegian Fellesforbundet, the largest union in the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions LO.
The lawsuit against Tesla in Sweden is likely to escalate further on November 24 if no agreement is reached, when about 50 unionized workers at Hydro Extrusions, a subsidiary of Norwegian aluminum and energy company Hydro (NHY.OL), stop working on Tesla Car products.
Tesla has not responded to repeated requests for comment.
Reporting by Marie Mannes Additional reporting by Louise Rasmussen, Johan Ahlander, Ilze Filks and Johannes Birkebaek Editing by Simon Johnson, Mark Potter and Susan Fenton
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