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Across Sweden, around seventy car mechanics continue to confront among the world's richest corporations – the electric vehicle manufacturer. This industrial action at the US carmaker's 10 Swedish repair facilities has now reached two years of duration, with little sign for a settlement.

One striking worker has remained on the Tesla picket line starting from October 2023.

"It's a difficult time," states the 39-year-old. And as Sweden's chilly seasonal conditions arrives, it is expected to become more challenging.

The mechanic devotes every start of the week alongside a colleague, positioned outside a Tesla service center within a business district located in southern Sweden. The labor organization, the Swedish metalworkers' union, supplies shelter in the form of a mobile construction vehicle, plus hot beverages and sandwiches.

But it's business as usual nearby, at which the workshop appears to operate at full capacity.

This industrial action concerns a matter that goes to the heart of Scandinavia's labor traditions – the authority for worker organizations to negotiate wages and conditions representing their members. This principle of negotiated labor contracts has supported labor dynamics across the nation for nearly one hundred years.

Today some 70% of Scandinavia's employees belong to labor organizations, while 90% are covered by a collective agreement. Strikes across the nation occur infrequently.

It's an arrangement supported by all parties. "We favor the right to negotiate directly with worker representatives and establish collective agreements," states a business representative from the Association of Swedish Enterprise employer group.

But Tesla has upset established practices. Outspoken chief executive Elon Musk has stated he "disagrees" with the concept of labor organizations. "I simply disapprove of anything that establishes a kind of lords and peasants situation," he told listeners at an event last year. "In my view labor groups attempt to create negativity within businesses."

Tesla came to Sweden starting in the mid-2010s, and the metalworkers' union has for years sought to secure a collective agreement with the company.

"Yet they did not respond," states the union president, the organization's president. "We formed the impression that they attempted to hide away or not discuss the matter with us."

She says the union ultimately saw no alternative than to call industrial action, beginning in late October, 2023. "Typically the threat suffices to make a warning," comments Ms Nilsson. "Employers usually signs the agreement."

However this did not happen on this occasion.

The striking mechanic, who is of Latvian origin, began employment with the automaker in 2021. He asserts that pay & conditions were often subject to the discretion of supervisors.

He remembers an evaluation meeting where he states he was refused a salary increase because that he "not reaching Tesla's goals". Meanwhile, a colleague was reported to be rejected for increased compensation due to he had the "wrong attitude".

Nevertheless, not everyone participated in the industrial action. The company employed some 130 mechanics working when the strike was initiated. The union says that today around 70 of its members are on strike.

Tesla has long since replaced these with new workers, a situation there is no precedent since the era of the Great Depression.

"The company has accomplished this [found replacement staff] openly and methodically," states a labor researcher, an analyst at a research institute, a policy organization supported by Scandinavian labor organizations.

"It's not illegal, this being crucial to recognize. But it violates all traditional practices. Yet Tesla doesn't care for conventions.

"They aim to be norm breakers. Thus when anyone informs them, hey, you are breaking a standard, they perceive this as a compliment."

The automaker's local division refused requests for comment via correspondence mentioning "record vehicle shipments".

In fact, the automaker has granted just a single press discussion during the entire period after the strike began.

In March 2024, the local division's "country lead", the executive, informed a business paper that it benefited the organization better not to have a collective agreement, and instead "to collaborate directly with employees and provide workers optimal terms".

Mr Stark rejected that the decision to avoid a collective agreement was determined by US leadership in the US. "We have a mandate to make independent such decisions," he said.

IF Metall is not entirely isolated in this conflict. This industrial action has been supported by a number of labor organizations.

Dockworkers in neighbouring Denmark, Norway & Finland, are refusing to process the company's vehicles; waste is no longer collected from the automaker's Swedish facilities; while recently constructed power points remain linked to power networks across the nation.

Exists one such facility near Stockholm Arlanda Airport, at which 20 charging units remain unused. But a Tesla enthusiast, the leader of enthusiasts group the Swedish Tesla association, states vehicle owners remain unaffected by the labor dispute.

"There exists an alternative power point six miles from this location," he comments. "Plus we are able to still buy our cars, we can maintain our cars, we can charge our electric cars."

With consequences significant for all parties, it's hard to envision a resolution to the stand-off. The union risks setting a precedent if it concedes the principle of collective agreement.

"The concern is how that would spread," states the researcher, "and eventually {erode