The labor dispute over Tesla’s refusal to sign a collective wage agreement in Sweden has escalated into a dramatic labor battle.
Unions representing multiple industries announced this week that they would join the strike in solidarity with IF Metall, the Tesla mechanics’ trade union.
The standoff started in late October with a walkout led by IF Metall.
In Sweden, which doesn’t have minimum wage legislation for workers, about 90% of employees are covered by collective agreements involving unions and employers.
IF Metall describes the agreements as “the backbone of the Swedish model” and said it’s been trying to negotiate one with Tesla for the last five years.
The union said Tesla wages are below the industry average in Sweden, and it wants to secure better pensions and insurance guarantees.
If only American workers had this kind of solidarity and stood up for themselves.
It’s a lot easier when there is infrastructure to support people and their health regardless of their employment status. Solidarity doesn’t mean shit when you get fired and replaced by scabs, your family loses it’s healthcare, you can’t afford rent anymore and get evicted. But that’s all by design.
Nope all we get is “I’ll be damned if the guy flipping burgers makes as much as me!”.
And then laughing at what a loser he is while he makes your burger.
I’ve never heard a person express this sentiment
My father and numerous family members of mine have expressed it verbatim, count yourself lucky
There’s a part of society fully lost to crab mentality
I grew up in crab land, and I wish I just meant Maryland’s delightful seafood specialty.
Walk like crabs, look like people . .
It’s a Midwest US chant by this point.
Then you haven’t been listening
I think that’s a reference to the meme that was like “I will be damned if a burger flipper makes as much as my skilled labor of filling boxes at Amazon.”
No, people say this unironically.
I literally have heard people complain that someone else got a raise in another industry, and the peron getting a raise was still making less than them. They figured because they worked a service job they didn’t deserve more than minimum wage.
Solidarity strikes aren’t legal here
I believe that all types of strikes should be legal. What other option do you have to defend yourself?
Solidarity strikes are about defending others though. After the labor movement ended and we got weekends and less (not zero) child labor, it quickly became illegal to strike for another industry.
haha
Pass the popcorn.
Morally correct!
Vikings don’t fuck around lol
Labor has a modicum of self respect in Sweden, it’s nice to see an example being set by a group other than the very most blatantly abused, such as our nurses and automotive in the states.
Tesla’s refusal to sign a collective wage agreement
I’m sorry, what?
Arrogance, ignorance and hubris.
It’s a typical story at this point. American company comes to Europe, doesn’t do its research, doesn’t know how these things work over here, management in the US refuses to adapt, few years down the line they fuck off with their tail between their legs.
Staggeringly incompetent.
The story of McDonalds in Denmark is a fun example of this if anyone wants to read. [1]
McDonalds decided not to follow the union agreement and thus set up its own pay levels and work rules instead. This was a departure, not just from what Danish companies did, but even from what other similar foreign companies did. For example, Burger King, which is identical to McDonalds in all relevant respects, decided to follow the union agreement when it came to Denmark a few years earlier.
In late 1988 and early 1989, the unions decided enough was enough and called sympathy strikes in adjacent industries in order to cripple McDonalds operations. Sixteen different sector unions participated in the sympathy strikes.
Dockworkers refused to unload containers that had McDonalds equipment in them. Printers refused to supply printed materials to the stores, such as menus and cups. Construction workers refused to build McDonalds stores and even stopped construction on a store that was already in progress but not yet complete. The typographers union refused to place McDonalds advertisements in publications, which eliminated the company’s print advertisement presence. Truckers refused to deliver food and beer to McDonalds. Food and beverage workers that worked at facilities that prepared food for the stores refused to work on McDonalds products.
Once the sympathy strikes got going, McDonalds folded pretty quickly and decided to start following the hotel and restaurant agreement in 1989.
This is why McDonalds workers in Denmark are paid $22 per hour.
[1] https://mattbruenig.com/2021/09/20/when-mcdonalds-came-to-denmark/
Just for the record: McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, KFC and Starbucks all have collective agreements in Denmark.
…Beer?
Yeah, in countries that never had prohibition, they take a different view of alcohol. Mainly one that isn’t restrictive.
Tinfoil hat time: they do know. They are attempting to normalize the U.S. model in Europe to drive down labor costs.
Reality check: others have tried. Others have failed.
so they dont sell in sweden then? is it a huge market?
Well, if they don’t play by Swedish rules they aren’t going to be allowed at the table. And the Swedish unions are the ones enforcing that.
It’s not insignificant. It’s Tesla’s 5th biggest in Europe and Tesla’s were making up 60% of new car sales in Sweden.
Problem for Tesla is even if they pull out of the market all the cars they already sold will need servicing. So the mechanics union will strike and demand a collective bargaining agreement, then what choice does Tesla have?
something very funny about dockworkers being the holdup here. we need to go back to sea power as might
Are you suggesting that America use its Navy to enforce, by force, a resolution of the labor dispute in favor of Tesla?
This isn’t the 1700s, you know.
Well this wouldn’t be the first time America went to war to protect the interests of a company, specifically over a labor dispute.
To what end?
