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After grappling with more than a month of escalating labor stoppages in Sweden, Tesla now faces a blockade from Denmark’s largest labor union.
The United Federation of Workers in Denmark, or 3F, said Tuesday that its dockworkers and drivers would no longer help transport electric vehicles moving in or out of Sweden. IF Metall, the labor union representing Swedish Tesla mechanics, asked it to join the conflict, according to 3F.
Although Tesla doesn’t construct its vehicles in Sweden, it does maintain a series of service centers in the country. Some 130 mechanics walked off the job on Oct. 27 after years of unsuccessful attempts to get Tesla’s leadership to accept a collective bargaining contract and recognize the union.
Multiple Swedish trade unions representing workers across the country have now refused to do work for the company. Notably, dockworkers have refused to load and unload the automaker’s EVs and postal workers have declined to deliver packages and license plates to Tesla’s workplaces.
The automaker on Nov. 28 sued the Swedish state — through the nation’s transport agency — and the postal service over workers’ refusal to deliver license plates. Although sympathy strikes are illegal in the U.S., they’ve become a vital asset for labor movements abroad.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called the strikes “insane” in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the platform he owns. Notably, this is Tesla’s first formal labor conflict anywhere in the world, although the company is facing organizing efforts at both its “gigafactory” in Germany and facilities across the U.S.
“I disagree with the idea of unions … I don’t like anything that creates lords and peasants,” Musk said last week at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit.
IF Metall’s chairwoman, Marie Nilsson, has called Tesla’s refusal to agree to a union contract with its workers “a threat to the Swedish model,” which relies on employers and labor groups making joint decisions in the labor market. Both corporations and unions have credited that model with the Nordic country’s economic prosperity.
“Even if you are one of the richest people in the world, you can’t just make your own rules. We have some agreements on the labor market in the Nordics, and you have to comply with them if you want to do business here,” 3F Chairman Jan Villadsen said Tuesday. “Solidarity is the cornerstone of the trade union movement and extends across national borders.”
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