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In Sweden, approximately seventy car mechanics persist to confront one of the globe's wealthiest corporations – Tesla. The industrial action at the American carmaker's 10 Swedish repair facilities has currently entered its second anniversary, and there is minimal indication of a settlement.

Janis Kuzma has been at the Tesla protest line since the autumn of 2023.

"It has been a tough period," remarks the worker in his late thirties. And as the nation's chilly seasonal conditions sets in, it is expected to grow more challenging.

The mechanic spends every start of the week with a colleague, standing near a Tesla service center within an industrial park in Malmö. The labor organization, the Swedish metalworkers' union, provides accommodation via a portable builders' van, plus coffee & sandwiches.

But it remains operations continue normally nearby, at which the workshop appears to operate in full swing.

The strike concerns an issue that reaches to the heart of Scandinavia's industrial culture – the authority for worker organizations to negotiate wages and working terms on behalf of their workforce. This concept of collective agreement has supported industrial relations across the nation for almost one hundred years.

Today approximately seventy percent of Swedish employees are members of a trade union, while 90% fall under under negotiated labor contracts. Strikes across the nation are rare.

This is a system welcomed by all parties. "We favor the ability to bargain freely with the unions and sign collective agreements," says Mattias Dahl of the Confederation of Swedish Businesses employer group.

But Tesla has upset the apple cart. Outspoken chief executive Elon Musk has stated he "opposes" with the idea of labor organizations. "I just don't like any arrangement that establishes a sort of lords and peasants sort of thing," he told listeners at an event last year. "In my view labor groups attempt to create conflict in a company."

Tesla entered the Scandinavian market starting in 2014, and the metalworkers' union has long wanted to establish a labor contract with the company.

"Yet they wouldn't respond," says Marie Nilsson, the organization's leader. "And we got the belief that they tried to avoid or not discuss this with our representatives."

She says the organization eventually found no other option except to call a strike, beginning on 27 October, last year. "Usually it's enough to make a warning," says the union leader. "Employers usually signs the contract."

However not on this occasion.

Janis Kuzma, originally from Latvia, started working with the automaker several years ago. He claims that pay and work terms frequently dependent on the whim of managers.

He recalls a performance review at which he states he was denied a salary increase because that he "not reaching company targets". At the same time, a colleague was reported to have been rejected for a pay rise because he had an "inappropriate demeanor".

However, some workers participated on strike. Tesla had some 130 technicians working when the strike was called. The union states currently around seventy of its members are on strike.

Tesla has since substituted these with replacement staff, a situation there is not occurred since the 1930s.

"The company has accomplished this [found replacement staff] openly & systematically," states German Bender, an analyst at Arena Idé, a policy organization financed by Scandinavian labor organizations.

"It's not illegal, which is crucial to recognize. But it goes against all established norms. Yet Tesla doesn't care for conventions.

"They aim to be norm breakers. Thus when somebody tells them, listen, you are violating a standard, they perceive that as praise."

The automaker's Swedish subsidiary declined requests for comment in an email citing "record vehicle shipments".

Indeed, the company has given just a single press discussion during the entire period after the industrial action started.

In March 2024, the local division's "country lead", Jens Stark, informed a financial publication that it suited the organization better to avoid a collective agreement, and instead "to work closely with the team and give them the best possible conditions".

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

IF Metall is not entirely alone in this conflict. The strike has been supported from several of other unions.

Port workers in neighbouring Denmark, Nordic countries & neighboring states, are refusing to handle Teslas; rubbish is not collected from Tesla's Scandinavian locations; and recently constructed power points are not being connected to power networks in the country.

Exists one such facility close to Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where twenty charging units stand idle. However a Tesla enthusiast, the leader of enthusiasts group Tesla Club Sweden, states vehicle owners remain unaffected by the strike.

"There's another charging station 10km from this location," he comments. "Plus we are able to still buy our cars, we can service our cars, we can charge our electric cars."

With stakes significant for all parties, it is difficult to see an end to the stand-off. IF Metall faces the danger of establishing a pattern if it concedes the principle of negotiated labor contracts.

"The worry is how this could expand," says Mr Bender, "and ultimately {erode