ADVERTISEMENT

Tesla has filed a lawsuit against the Swedish Transport Agency as striking workers in the Scandinavian country halted the delivery of licence plates of new vehicles manufactured by the Texas-based automaker, Sweden’s Dagens Industri reported on Monday.

Mikael Andersson, a press spokesman for the agency, said the lawsuit was filed early morning “so we have not seen it yet.”

“We need to hear their reasoning first before we can give any further comment,” Andersson told public broadcaster SVT.

Leading business paper Dagens Industri reported that Tesla — which is non-unionised globally — was suing the government agency because not accessing the registration plates “constitutes an unlawful discriminatory attack directed at Tesla.”

On 27 October, 130 members of the powerful metalworkers’ union IF Metall walked out at seven workshops across the country where the popular electric cars are serviced, demanding that the carmaker sign a collective bargaining agreement, which most employees in Sweden have. Tesla has no manufacturing plant in Sweden, but has several service centres.

Gabriella Lavecchia, president of Seko, emphasised in a statement recently that Tesla’s non-compliance with prevailing labour regulations in Sweden is an attempt to gain a competitive advantage by offering workers substandard wages and conditions compared to those stipulated in a collective agreement.

The Swedish labour market model relies heavily on sector-specific collective agreements, covering nearly 90% of the country’s workforce and ensuring minimum wages and acceptable working conditions.

Despite being union members, Tesla workers find themselves excluded from sectoral collective agreements due to the company’s refusal to sign such agreements. With 127,000 employees worldwide, Tesla has consistently rejected calls for unionisation.

Swedish mechanics join ‘insane’ strike

Swedish mechanics have stopped servicing Tesla cars since the strike.

The postal workers’ union joined others in a wave of sympathy with IF Metall’s demands. Dockworkers at Sweden’s four largest ports also stopped the delivery of Tesla vehicles to put more pressure on the automaker to comply with the metal workers’ demands.

Last week, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter which he owns, that it was “insane” that Swedish postal workers were refusing to deliver licence plates of new vehicles.

IF Metall earlier said that Tesla Sweden has “refused to sign a collective agreement and violates basic principles in the Swedish labour market.” It called such agreements “the backbone of the Swedish model.”

The union also asked for the understanding of consumers, saying, “we are doing this for the sake of our members, to ensure that they have safe working conditions.”

Dagens Industri wrote that Tesla demanded the district court make sure the Swedish Transport Agency delivered its licence plates.