Scandinavia against Elon Musk: How a trade union international wants to bring the Tesla boss to his knees

Strikes for collectively agreed wages - Scandinavia against Elon Musk: How a trade union international wants to bring the Tesla boss to his knees

Elon Musk is not having an easy time at the moment. On Monday, the European Commission opened proceedings against the online platform X (formerly Twitter) purchased by Musk for spreading misinformation, hatred and hate speech. His electric car company Tesla has to install new software on two million cars in the USA due to potential risks associated with the autopilot function. And as if that wasn't enough, the richest man in the world has been at loggerheads with trade unions in northern Europe for weeks.

It started very small: On October 27, around 130 employees at ten workshops and service stations of Musk's electric car brand in Sweden walked off the job. The IF Metall trade union had called the strike in order to enforce fair and safe working conditions as well as collective agreements with appropriate wages, pensions and insurance for its members. IF Metall has been negotiating with Tesla for some time, but so far without success.

"The company has refused to sign a collective agreement and is thus violating the basic principles of the Swedish labor market," the employee representatives explain their strike. They see no other solution than industrial action. In Sweden, around 90 percent of employees are covered by collective agreements. Musk rejects the unionization of its approximately 127,000 employees worldwide.

Post office, electricians, dock workers: they are all boycotting Tesla

The small Tesla strike quickly triggered a wave of solidarity. Several other trade unions, companies and workers in Sweden also stopped work or boycotted Tesla.

Electricians in Sweden, for example, decided not to carry out any work on Tesla charging stations or Tesla workshops. Painters and varnishers refused to work on Tesla cars. Tesla suppliers stopped their deliveries and cleaners refused to clean at Tesla. Even the Swedish waste collection service announced that it would no longer collect waste from Tesla.

Workers at four ports in the Scandinavian country also joined the strike at the beginning of November and blocked the loading and unloading of Tesla vehicles. "There will be a complete stop for Tesla cars in all Swedish ports," explained Tommy Wreeth, head of the transport union. As Tesla does not have a production facility in Sweden, the vehicles have to be imported via the ports.

The postal service is also taking a stand against Musk: letters and parcels via the companies PostNord and CityMail were no longer delivered to or collected from Tesla workshops in the country, the union for employees in the services and communications sector explained at the end of November. License plates for new Teslas were therefore not delivered.

Elon Musk and Tesla hit back against strikers

The Tesla boss called the workers' uprising "insane". In his own short message service X, he expressed his incomprehension that the delivery of license plates for new cars was not taking place due to the postal workers' strike. According to Swedish media reports, however, the impact of the postal strike is minimal. Tesla is having the license plates delivered by courier instead.

This is insane

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2023

Nevertheless, anyone who messes with Elon Musk will be challenged. The US car manufacturer filed two lawsuits against the Swedish state at the end of November. They are directed against Postnord and the Swedish Transport Administration, which sends Tesla license plates for new cars by post.

The car manufacturer requested that the Swedish authority be obliged to ensure that the license plates are delivered to Tesla. Tesla also demanded a fine of one million Swedish crowns, the equivalent of 87,000 euros, if the traffic authority did not enforce this. In a further lawsuit, the company asked a court to order Postnord to hand over the license plates. Postnord is owned by the Swedish and Danish states.

Norway, Denmark and Finland show solidarity with Sweden

In a first step, a local court ruled that the traffic authority is obliged to hand over the license plates if Tesla collects them itself. A first partial success for Tesla and Musk.

But it did not stop there. An appeals court overturned the ruling. This means that the license plates may not be collected by Tesla for the time being, a final decision is still pending, reported the newspaper "Dagens Nyheter".

Tesla also had bad luck with its lawsuit against Postnord. The judges decided on December 7 to dismiss the lawsuit. This means that Postnord is not obliged to hand over the license plates until a final ruling is made. Tesla appealed against this decision, but the appeal was rejected last Thursday.

The anti-Tesla strike has now spread to neighboring countries Denmark, Finland and Norway. This is likely to be bad news for Musk, as Northern Europe is an important market. Last year, Norway was the fourth-largest market for new car sales and Sweden the fifth-largest.

stern reporters smuggle themselves into the Tesla factory.

Danish fund sells shares due to Tesla dispute

At the beginning of December, the Finnish trade union AKT announced that it would no longer ship Teslas to Sweden from December 20.

In Denmark, the 3F union announced similar actions last Wednesday. Danish port workers and truck drivers then stopped loading Tesla cars for transportation to Sweden.

"If you want to be here, you are very welcome, but you have to follow the rules," said Jan Villadsen from 3F Transport, addressing Tesla and its boss. At 80 percent, collective bargaining coverage is also very high in Denmark.

The union boss expects the conflict with the Nordic unions to continue until an agreement is reached with Tesla. However, he was confident: "I have been in this business for more than 25 years and have never experienced a strike that did not end in an agreement. All strikes end with an agreement."

Pressure also grew from other sides: the Danish fund PensionDanmark declared in an email to the news agency Reuters that it had sold shares in the company worth around 64 million euros due to Tesla's stance. The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, which is worth billions, is also standing up for the employees. "We expect the companies we invest in to respect basic human rights, including workers' rights," fund manager Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) told Reuters news agency on December 8. The 1.5 trillion US dollar fund is the largest equity investor in the world.

However, NBIM would not comment on whether Tesla's stance will have an impact on the fund's investment decisions.

Do the unions stand a chance against Tesla?

It remains to be seen how successful the unions will ultimately be with their actions. IF boss Marie Nilsson said in the first few days of the strike that it had not yet had the desired effect. The trade newspaper "Dagens Arbete" reported that Tesla, for example, was avoiding strike action.

In the USA and Germany, too, the trade unions have so far been unable to prevail against the tough stance taken by company boss Elon Musk.

In Germany, the unions have put pressure on Tesla to implement a similar agreement for the 11,000 employees in Grünheide near Berlin. Although wages have been increased, the German IG Metall union criticized the fact that they are still around 20 percent below the collective agreements.

If the Swedish IF Metall loses, it would be a bitter defeat. The conflict has been blown out of proportion. However, if the union were to win, it would send out a message: as David, you can bring Goliath Tesla to its knees.

Bent Greve, professor and labor market researcher at Roskilde University in Denmark, estimates in the newspaper "Berlingske" that the strike will continue for a while. He sees two possible scenarios: Either the strikers give in because of the loss of pay - or Tesla does. The car manufacturer has an interest in avoiding such conflicts so as not to be overtaken by other car manufacturers on the Swedish market. "It's not nice when a company that is aiming for a large market share gets negative publicity," says Greve. In his opinion, however, Tesla will wait and see whether the strike has an impact on sales figures.

In any case, the Swedish company is determined to continue. IF boss Nilsson told Reuters that the Tesla mechanics' strike would last as long as necessary. In the meantime, however, both parties are moving towards each other again: Tesla and the union have resumed talks, as reported by "Dagens Nyheter".

Reuters, IF Metall, Göta Hovrätt, " Dagens Nyheter", " Aftonbladet", "Berlingske", "Dagens Arbete", "Dagens Industri", "Politiken", SVT, Yle, "Wirtschaftswoche", Statista