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Norwegian union threatens solidarity action in Swedish Tesla strike

Norway's biggest private sector union is joining a Danish union in threatening solidarity action as part of a strike against Tesla in Sweden.

Norwegian union threatens solidarity action in Swedish Tesla strike
Swedish mechanics have been striking at Tesla since October. Photo: Ina Fassbender/AFP

Norway’s Fellesforbundet said it would block the transit of Tesla cars into Sweden if the US automaker refuses to sign a Swedish collective wage agreement by December 20th.

Since October 27th, some 130 mechanics at 10 Tesla repair shops in seven Swedish cities have been striking to protest against the carmaker’s refusal to sign a collective agreement.

The strike has since grown into a larger conflict between Tesla and almost a dozen unions seeking to protect Sweden’s labour model.

Despite this, several Swedish media have reported that the impact of the strikes has so far been fairly limited.

IF Metall has accused the electric carmaker of systematically using strike breakers to circumvent the labour action, and some Tesla deliveries to Sweden have been redirected through neighbouring Norwegian and Danish ports instead.

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 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.

“If this is not in place by December 20th, we will go ahead and take action,” Norway’s Fellesforbundet union said, without disclosing what kind of measures it was planning.

“This is a clear message to Tesla that it will not be able to redirect Swedish Teslas to Norway,” he added.

Danish union 3F earlier this week said its transport workers would launch a strike in solidarity with Swedish Tesla workers on December 18th unless a solution was found.

According to the Swedish Transport Agency, there are 51,617 Teslas registered in Sweden.

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

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STRIKES

Swedish union slams Tesla for bringing in foreign strike breakers

Tesla is allegedly bringing in workers from countries such as the UK, Ireland and Portugal to fill the gaps left by striking employees in Sweden.

Swedish union slams Tesla for bringing in foreign strike breakers

Twenty-four workers from other European countries have on 41 occasions since February been flown in to work at one of Tesla’s service centres in Sweden, reports trade union news site Dagens Arbete, citing public documents from the Work Environment Authority.

IF Metall, Sweden’s metalworkers union, launched a full-scale strike against Tesla in October, demanding that the US car manufacturer sign a collective bargaining agreement. Several other unions in Sweden have also launched solidarity action against Tesla in response.

The fact that Tesla is bringing in people from other countries shows that the industrial action is having an effect, argues Peter Lydell, an ombudsman for IF Metall. He criticised the company for using strike breakers, a practice that hasn’t happened in Sweden since the 1930s.

“Sometimes we see them arriving by taxi and carrying suitcases. Or they get picked up by someone at Arlanda and go directly to the garage,” he told Dagens Arbete, which is affiliated with but editorially independent from IF Metall and the GS-facket and Pappers unions.

It writes that strike breakers have so far been brought in from the following countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, UK and the Netherlands.

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