Only 10 to 30 of the 130 mechanics "walked off the job". The press like AP News is straight up lying that 130 mechanics walked off the job, that other media is parroting. The rest like their stock options and performance based pay hikes instead of the union table rates for all:
The number of striking Tesla mechanics is so low that IF Metall refuses to reveal how many are striking, and recently expelled some Tesla employees for not obeying their power play of striking.
It's a powerplay by unions who have to resort to sympathy strikes using the government monopoly on giving out registration plates because Tesla workers are happy. Even those are failing as Tesla sales in Sweden have increased over 2022 in Nov and Dec 2023, in spite of blockades on Tesla car imports. Would be interesting to see the court battle over plates because Swedish law says plates must be provided for lawfully registered cars. The law usually trumps contracts, which should have exceptions in the cases of force majeure anyway.
To not paint a target on striking employees in case of small strikes.
> Tesla has been selling and servicing cars in Sweden from almost 10 years, it was business as usual till the union decided to strike.
The union has been trying to negotiate with Tesla during that period.
Sweden traditionally has very weak labor laws, there is not even a minimum wage. Instead, Sweden relies on strong unions, with more than 70% of employees in unions. There are unwritten rules on how businesses should behave, but Tesla just decided to ignore them.
It was OK while Tesla was still a small scrappy startup, but they're not anymore.
> The number of striking Tesla mechanics is so low that IF Metall refuses to reveal how many are striking, and recently expelled some Tesla employees for not obeying their power play of striking.
Unions here never disclose how many employees are on strike, it's a way to protect the collective action.
> ”Hade jag inte tyckt om mitt jobb, hade det varit så toxiskt som de beskriver, då hade jag bytt jobb”, säger han till Ekot.
That's one technician saying they are happy and disappointed with IF Metall, unless conditions are so egregious to force unanimous action there will always be employees who don't want to participate on a strike. It was the same in the case of Klarna, a lot of employees were not in support of a potential strike but there was enough support to announce it to force Klarna to come into a collective bargaining agreement.
> It's a powerplay by unions who have to resort to sympathy strikes using the government monopoly on giving out registration plates because Tesla workers are happy. Even those are failing as Tesla sales in Sweden have increased over 2022 in Nov and Dec 2023, in spite of blockades on Tesla car imports.
It's become a powerplay, exactly because of how the labour market works here, if a company succeeds in overturning a foundational principle of the labour market then employers have acquired a much more outsized power against employees. IF Metall wants Tesla to abide by what any other car manufacturer abides to in Sweden, in not doing so they are creating a market advantage over other companies who are following the rules of the labour market.
Had Tesla not brought scabs to break the strike nothing of this would be happening, do you understand that? The major issue is that, it's not Tesla not signing a CBA, it's Tesla trying to strong-arm their way through union busting tactics in a society where unions are a core tenet to balance employers-employees relationships. Without unionised power the labour market in Scandinavia/Nordics is not possible to be balanced, the government tries to not interfere.
I do not understand why you defend Tesla so often in Hacker News, I've noticed your username across the years always siding with Tesla, Tesla is in the wrong here and they are paying for it.
If Tesla doesn't like how the market works here they are free to leave at any moment...
