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STRIKES

Tesla strike widens as Swedish union expands blockade

Sweden's metalworkers' union is expanding its strike against Tesla, a week after mechanics walked off the job over the electric carmaker's refusal to sign a collective bargaining agreement.

Tesla strike widens as Swedish union expands blockade
The picket line outside one of Tesla's workshops in Sweden. Photo: Jessica Gow/TT

The first stage of the strike affected some 130 mechanics at 10 Tesla workshops in seven cities of across Sweden, according to trade union IF Metall.

On Friday, the strike was expanded to include some 470 more workers at another 17 facilities that service many brands of vehicles where a “blockade” on repairing Tesla cars had been put in place.

“It’s important to remember that these people are going to work as usual and carry out their tasks on other car models, but they don’t service Tesla specifically during the conflict,” IF Metall union spokesman Jesper Pettersson told AFP.

Pettersson said the union had met with Tesla during the week and another meeting was planned for Monday, but did not wish to comment on how the negotiations were going.

Negotiated sector-by-sector, collective agreements are the basis of the Swedish labour market model, covering almost 90 percent of all Swedish employees and guaranteeing standard wages and working conditions.

Last week IF Metall – which has some 300,000 members – told AFP that “many” of Tesla’s workers in Sweden are members of IF Metall, but would not disclose an exact number.

Despite being union members, they cannot benefit from industry-wide collective bargaining agreements.

Tesla founder and chief Elon Musk has consistently rejected calls to allow the company’s 127,000 employees worldwide to unionise.

The Swedish Transport Workers’ union has also announced “sympathy measures” in support of IF Metall’s strike, threatening to block the “loading and unloading of Tesla cars” at four Swedish ports, starting on November 7th unless an agreement is reached.

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NORTHVOLT

Toyota halts work at Swedish factory Northvolt after unexplained deaths

Toyota is temporarily pausing work for its service technicians at the Northvolt battery factory in northern Sweden after three people died under mysterious circumstances after shifts working at the factory.

Toyota halts work at Swedish factory Northvolt after unexplained deaths

“As an employer, we care about the safety of our employees,” Toyota’s head of HR, Annika Dörner, told Dagens Arbete.

“Based on the information we have received from Northvolt in Skellefteå, we as an employer have decided to carry out as little service and maintenance on site as possible.”

In the past six months, three men working at Northvolt passed away at home following shifts at the factory. Swedish police launched an investigation into the deaths this week to find out whether they’re just a coincidence, or whether the people in question may have been exposed to something while working.

Toyota’s technicians will carry out service work from the company’s own base in Skellefteå, Dörner said, while awaiting the results of the police investigation.

In a comment to Dagens Arbete, Mikael Stenmark, chief safety representative for metalworkers’ union IF Metall, criticised Toyota for pausing work on site.

“In this case Toyota has halted work without knowing if there’s a clear danger to life or health, and without knowing if there’s a risk. We can’t have a situation where companies react to rumours. We need to base these things on facts,” he told the newspaper.

“The consequence of this is that no one takes it seriously when it actually is dangerous.”

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