In Sweden, around seventy automotive mechanics continue to confront one of the world's wealthiest corporations – the electric vehicle manufacturer. The labor strike at the American carmaker's ten Scandinavian repair facilities has now entered two years of duration, and there is little sign of a resolution.
Janis Kuzma has remained at the electric car company's picket line starting from October 2023.
"It's a tough period," states the 39-year-old. And as Sweden's chilly seasonal conditions sets in, it is expected to become even tougher.
The mechanic spends every start of the week with a fellow worker, positioned near a Tesla service center on a business district located in southern Sweden. His union, the Swedish metalworkers' union, supplies shelter in the form of a mobile builders' van, plus coffee & sandwiches.
However it remains business as usual across the road, at which the workshop appears to operate at full capacity.
The strike concerns a matter that reaches to the heart of Swedish industrial culture – the authority for worker organizations to bargain for wages & working terms representing their workforce. This concept of negotiated labor contracts has supported labor dynamics across the nation for nearly one hundred years.
Currently approximately 70% of Scandinavia's workers belong of a trade union, and 90% fall under by a collective agreement. Strikes across the nation occur infrequently.
This is a system supported across the board. "We prefer the right to bargain directly with the unions and establish labor contracts," says Mattias Dahl from the Association of Swedish Enterprise business organization.
However Tesla has upset established practices. Vocal chief executive the company leader has said he "opposes" with the concept of labor organizations. "I simply don't like any arrangement that establishes a kind of hierarchical situation," he informed listeners at an event last year. "In my view labor groups attempt to generate conflict in a company."
The automaker entered the Scandinavian market starting in 2014, while IF Metall has for years wanted to secure a labor contract with the company.
"Yet they did not reply," says Marie Nilsson, the organization's leader. "And we got the impression that they tried to hide away or evade discussing the matter with our representatives."
She says the union ultimately found no alternative except to call a strike, which started on 27 October, last year. "Typically the threat suffices to issue a warning," says the union leader. "Employers usually agrees to the contract."
But not in this case.
Janis Kuzma, who is from Latvia, began employment for Tesla in 2021. He claims that wages and work terms frequently subject to the whim of managers.
He recalls a performance review at which he says he was refused an annual pay rise on grounds he was "not reaching company targets". Meanwhile, a coworker was reported to have been rejected for increased compensation because he had an "inappropriate demeanor".
Nevertheless, some workers went out on strike. Tesla had approximately 130 technicians working when the industrial action was called. IF Metall says that today approximately 70 of its members are participating in the action.
Tesla has since substituted the striking workers with replacement staff, for which that has no precedent since the era of the Great Depression.
"The company has done it [found replacement staff] openly and methodically," states a labor researcher, a researcher at a research institute, a think tank financed by Scandinavian labor organizations.
"It's not illegal, this being important to recognize. But it violates all established norms. Yet the company doesn't care for conventions.
"They want to become norm breakers. So if somebody tells them, listen, you are violating a standard, they see that as praise."
The company's Swedish subsidiary refused requests for interview via correspondence citing "record deliveries".
In fact, the automaker has granted just a single media interview during the entire period since the industrial action started.
In March 2024, the local division's "country lead", Jens Stark, told a financial publication that it benefited the organization better to avoid a collective agreement, and rather "to collaborate directly with employees and give them optimal conditions".
The executive denied that the decision to avoid a collective agreement was one made by US leadership overseas. "We have a mandate to take independent such choices," he said.
The union is not completely isolated in this conflict. The strike has been supported from several of labor organizations.
Port workers in neighbouring Scandinavian nations, Nordic countries & neighboring states, are refusing to process the company's vehicles; rubbish is not removed from Tesla's Scandinavian locations; while newly built charging stations are not being connected to the grid in the country.
Exists one such facility near Stockholm Arlanda Airport, at which 20 charging units remain unused. However Tibor Blomhäll, the president of enthusiasts group Tesla Club Sweden, says vehicle owners remain unaffected by the strike.
"There exists another charging station six miles from this location," he says. "Plus we are able to continue to purchase vehicles, we can service our vehicles, we can power our electric cars."
With stakes significant on both sides, it is difficult to envision an end to the stand-off. IF Metall faces the danger of setting a precedent should it surrender the fundamental concept of collective agreement.
"The worry is that that would spread," says the researcher, "and eventually {erode
