[The first ever strikes and a solidarity blockade against the US
carmaker could force it to rethink its entire anti-union model]
[[link removed]]

TESLA MAY HAVE PICKED AN UNWINNABLE FIGHT WITH SWEDEN’S POWERFUL
UNIONS  
[[link removed]]


 

Martin Gelin
November 21, 2023
The Guardian
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ The first ever strikes and a solidarity blockade against the US
carmaker could force it to rethink its entire anti-union model _

Port workers blocking a ship from loading Tesla vehicles onto a ship
moored at the port of Malmo in Sweden, in early November., Johan
Nilsson/TT News Agency, via Associated Press

 

For the first time anywhere in the world, workers for the US carmaker
Tesla have gone on strike.
[[link removed]]
It’s not a coincidence that this strike is happening in Sweden,
which has one of the strongest labour movements in Europe. More than
90% of workers
[[link removed]]
are protected by collective bargaining agreements, and the system has
strong backing among employees and employers alike. With good reason:
the Swedish labour relations model has sustained relative industrial
peace between wage-earners and corporations for decades.

By refusing to play ball, Elon Musk’s car giant may have picked an
unwinnable fight. What started as a minor local disagreement has grown
to the point that it could have global implications, with potential
ripple effects for labour movements and auto workers across Europe
[[link removed]] and the US.

Tesla doesn’t manufacture cars in Sweden, but it does operate
workshops to service its cars. The dispute began when a group of 130
disgruntled mechanics
[[link removed]]
had their request for a collective bargaining agreement rejected. As
is customary in Sweden, unions in other sectors came out in
solidarity. Dockworkers
[[link removed]], mail
and delivery workers, cleaners and car painters
[[link removed]]
have so far all agreed to refuse to work with Tesla products.
Stockholm’s largest taxi company has also stopped buying new Tesla
cars
[[link removed]]
for its fleet. Their fight against Tesla’s anti-union business model
could now spread to Germany, where Tesla runs factories and has a
significantly larger workforce. The powerful German union IG Metall
has said that it is ready to launch collective bargaining negotiations
[[link removed]]
if the workers demand it.

Tesla and other US corporations have certainly misjudged the situation
if they expect special treatment in Sweden
[[link removed]]. Much about Swedish society
has changed in the past few decades, but strong support for collective
bargaining agreements is still considered the backbone of the
country’s economic model.

Minimum wage rates and benefits are generally not regulated by law,
but in negotiations between unions and employers in each sector. It
has mostly worked
[[link removed]]well:
Sweden has fewer strikes than its Nordic neighbours. This is because
the unions are so strong they only need to call for industrial action
as a last resort. Despite the rightwing government
[[link removed]]
currently in power in Sweden, calls to change the employment model are
rare.

Foreign and domestic tech giants have tried to challenge the system
[[link removed]],
but these attempts are now more likely to backfire. The financial tech
company Klarna recently had to give way
[[link removed]]
after several years of attempting to resist collective bargaining
agreements, and settled with employees in a victory for white-collar
unions. There is increasing pressure on Spotify
[[link removed]]
to do the same.
Instead of importing the US’s lax labour standards to Sweden, Tesla
may end up jeopardising its own business model. In the US, Tesla has
been involved in a number of scandals
[[link removed]]over
the past decade, with allegations relating to workplace safety,
[[link removed]] racial
discrimination
[[link removed]],
sexual harassment,
[[link removed]]labour
violations
[[link removed]]and
unlawful practices to curb unionisation efforts.
[[link removed]]


Corporations used to get away with such behaviours, but increasingly
successful strikes and labour organising this year suggest that the
power balance is shifting. 2023 has been a year of high-profile
strikes and labour union victories in the US. Despite decades of
supreme court rulings that make it harder to form unions, and
conservative state governments enacting so-called right-to-work laws
[[link removed]] (an Orwellian euphemism for
suppressing labour organising), there now seems to be real momentum,
with support for unions at record highs. Fewer than 10%
[[link removed]] of US private sector
workers are unionised, but 67% now support unions, up from only 48% in
2009 [[link removed]].

The Hollywood actors’ strike organised by the Sag-Aftra union lasted
118 days, making it the longest strike in the guild’s history. It
ended with significant victories including big increases in salaries,
benefits and pensions, as well as a framework for AI guardrails for
actors. More than 75,000 workers
[[link removed]]for
the healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente also participated in a US-wide
strike, resulting in pay rises of more than 21% for workers.

When United Auto Workers organised strikes at the “big three” car
companies – General Motors, Ford and Stellantis – in Michigan this
summer, three-quarters of Americans
[[link removed]]
said they supported it. Joe Biden showed up
[[link removed]],
having called himself
[[link removed]]
“the most pro-union president in American history”. Characteristic
hyperbole perhaps, but Biden’s administration has accomplished quite
a lot for labour unions in the past three years, especially compared
to the dismal record of other recent presidents. (Donald Trump also
showed up in Michigan, but gave a speech at a non-unionised car parts
maker,
[[link removed]]
which was equally characteristic of his signature working-class
cosplay without policy substance.)

The United Auto Workers strike resulted in big concessions from the
carmakers, who agreed to 20-30% pay increases for workers. For Musk,
there are reasons to worry that his business model could be
challenged, as the fight in Sweden reverberates with the strengthening
power of labour organisers across American unions. The average worker
for the big three US carmakers now makes significantly more money, and
has better benefits, than a Tesla
[[link removed]] worker, which could
make it easier for UAW to organise workers at Tesla factories across
the US as well.

In an interview,
[[link removed]]
Susanna Gideonsson, who heads the Swedish trade union federation
fighting Tesla, sounded remarkably confident. “This will end with
the employees winning a collective bargaining agreement, one way or
another,” she said. And if they don’t? “Then Tesla can leave the
country.” If she is right, this could be a tremendous symbolic
victory, which would strengthen the tailwinds for union movements on
both sides of the Atlantic.

In facing off with its Swedish mechanics, Tesla seems to have
underestimated the sheer force of the union movement behind them. In
classic David v Goliath fashion, the mechanics took on the world’s
richest man, but the momentum is now with them.

*
Martin Gelin writes for the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter

 

* Tesla; Swedish Unions; United Auto Workers;
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]