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Swedish union boss: ‘Culture clash’ behind strikes against Tesla

A series of strikes against Tesla over its refusal to sign a collective agreement is a clash between the Swedish and American way of 'doing business', a union boss said.

Published: 1 December 2023 06:36 CET
Swedish union boss: 'Culture clash' behind strikes against Tesla
Tesla workers striking outside the company's service centre in Malmö. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Some 130 mechanics at 10 Tesla repair shops in seven cities across Sweden walked off the job on October 27th, and the strike has since grown into a larger conflict between the US giant and a slew of unions seeking to protect Sweden’s labour model.

In addition to the metalworkers union IF Metall, which launched the strike, nine other unions have announced “sympathy measures”, including dock workers and postal workers.

Marie Nilsson, head of IF Metall, told AFP that the foundation of the strike is failed negotiations to reach a collective wage agreement.

“We have tried to negotiate with them for a couple of years to reach our collective agreement, but they have declined that,” Nilsson said.

Collective agreements with unions are the basis of the Swedish labour market model, covering almost 90 percent of all employees and guaranteeing wages and working conditions.

Nilsson noted in Sweden there is no law regulating minimum wages, as wage levels are negotiated between unions and employers, adding that it’s “very important that this functions”.

Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has long rejected calls to allow the company’s 127,000 employees worldwide to unionise.

“I think this is kind of a clash between the Swedish or the European culture and the American way of doing business,” Nilsson said.

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

Several Swedish media have reported that the impact of the walkout has so far been limited, while IF Metall has accused the electric carmaker of systematically using strike breakers to circumvent the labour action.

On November 20th, Swedish postal workers joined in and began halting deliveries to Tesla offices and repair shops.

As licence plates for new cars are only delivered by mail in Sweden, the blockade would potentially block new Teslas hitting the road, something Musk branded “insane”.

On Monday, Tesla filed lawsuits against the Swedish Transport Agency and mail carrier Postnord, which is owned by the Swedish and Danish states, to compel them to hand over licence plates and mail to the carmaker.

The transport agency said late Monday it had received a “provisional” court ruling requiring it to agree, within seven days, to Tesla collecting its number plates directly from the plate manufacturer.

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For members

WORKING IN SWEDEN

Why you could land a job in Sweden but still leave within a year

As many as 70 percent of internationals want to stay in Sweden but only 40 percent end up doing so. What can be done to improve this figure?

Published: 8 May 2024 12:12 CEST
Why you could land a job in Sweden but still leave within a year

Almost ten years ago, Stockholm Akademiska Forum started its Dual Career Network, a network for the partners and spouses of top academics at Swedish universities to help them find work.

“The starting point was actually that one of our biggest universities had problems… they lost top scholars they had finally recruited to Sweden, and almost every time it was because the partner didn’t find a job in Stockholm,” Stockholm Akademiska Forum’s CEO, Maria Fogelström Kylberg, told The Local during a live recording of our Sweden in Focus podcast held as part of Talent Talks, an afternoon of discussions at the Stockholm Business Region offices on how to attract and retain foreign workers in Sweden.

“We thought ‘we’re in a good position representing 18 universities and the city to do something’, there’s strength in numbers,” she said.

To date, the forum has supported around 1,000 people, helped by a collaboration with Stockholm Business Region, which opened the network up to companies recruiting international staff.

In a new report, the forum highlighted the financial benefits for Swedish companies in hiring international talent, calling on Swedish companies to be more open to hiring foreign workers.

“There’s a lot of cost involved when you hire someone from abroad,” Fogelström Kylberg said. “They are often too focused on the person they are employing, but often for more senior roles, it’s a question of the whole family, it’s a family decision to move abroad.”

Companies invest a lot of money in employing someone, she said, but if their partner can’t find a job, they could leave within a year.

“Our numbers show that 88 percent of our members, these partners, have left an ongoing career and they are ready to start working tomorrow… but in Sweden, also for Swedes, it’s quite normal for it to take a year to get a new job,” she added.

“It’s a complete waste, because the person leaves and also Sweden loses money, because we could be getting income tax from two people,” she said.

It’s not just income tax which Sweden is missing out on, either. Accompanying family consume goods and services in Sweden, contributing towards the economy even if they are not working.

So-called third country students – students from non-Nordic, non-EU countries – often have particular issues with finding a job in order to stay in Sweden, as they only have a short amount of time to secure a position after their studies are complete, Fogelström Kylberg said.

“We’re doing a pilot project now starting in October, called the Stockholm Student Academy, built on the same basis as the Dual Career Network academy, for 250 students, master students from all universities together in a common programme with the same content to get to know Sweden, how the job market is organised, meeting in six different universities, extra social activities together. We need to do something as it’s a really big problem, they cannot stay but they want to. Students are an important resource.”

Laureline Vallée, who moved to Sweden alongside her partner and found a job after five months, describes dual career support as “really important”.

“It’s really challenging for the following partner,” she said. “So they also need to be integrated into society, and if not, the company has a high risk of losing their employee. And it means another move for the family.”

The Dual Career Network run by Stockholm Akademiska Forum is based in the capital, but there are other similar networks available for people based elsewhere in Sweden.

“There’s a similar one in Lund, they have a bigger region, as they have Malmö and Copenhagen too, and they have other challenges,” Fogelström Kylberg said.

“There are also a lot of other good initiatives, like Korta vägen or Yrkesdörren, which can really help. So the situation isn’t hopeless, it’s started and it has to grow, as we don’t want to lose more people.”

Listen to the full interview with Maria Fogelström Kylberg, Amanda Herzog and Laureline Vallée in The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

Interview by Paul O’Mahony, article by Becky Waterton

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