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Across Sweden, around 70 automotive technicians continue to confront among the world's wealthiest companies – Tesla. The industrial action at the American automaker's ten Swedish service centers has now entered its second anniversary, with little sign of a settlement.

One striking worker has been at the Tesla protest line starting from October 2023.

"It's a difficult time," remarks the worker in his late thirties. And as Sweden's chilly seasonal conditions sets in, it is expected to become even tougher.

The mechanic spends each Monday with a colleague, standing near an electric vehicle garage on an industrial park in Malmö. His union, IF Metall, provides accommodation in the form of a portable construction vehicle, plus coffee & light meals.

But it's operations continue normally across the road, at which the service facility appears to be in full swing.

The strike concerns a matter that goes to the heart of Scandinavia's industrial culture – the right for worker organizations to negotiate wages & conditions representing their workforce. This concept of negotiated labor contracts has supported industrial relations across the nation for almost one hundred years.

Currently some 70% of Scandinavia's employees are members of a trade union, and 90% fall under by a collective agreement. Labor stoppages across the nation occur infrequently.

This is an arrangement supported by all parties. "We favor the right to negotiate directly with the unions and sign collective agreements," says a business representative from the Association of Swedish Enterprise business organization.

But the electric car company has upset established practices. Vocal chief executive Elon Musk has said he "opposes" with the concept of unions. "I simply don't like any arrangement that establishes a sort of lords and peasants situation," he told an audience in New York last year. "In my view labor groups attempt to create negativity within businesses."

Tesla entered the Scandinavian market back in 2014, and IF Metall has for years wanted to establish a collective agreement with the automaker.

"But they did not respond," says Marie Nilsson, the union's president. "And we got the impression that they attempted to avoid or not discuss the matter with us."

She states the union ultimately saw no alternative than to announce a strike, which started in late October, 2023. "Typically the threat suffices to issue a warning," comments the union leader. "The company typically signs the agreement."

However not in this case.

Janis Kuzma, who is from Latvia, began employment with the automaker in 2021. He claims that pay & conditions frequently dependent on the whim of supervisors.

He recalls a performance review where he says he was refused an annual pay rise because that he "failing to meet Tesla's goals". Meanwhile, a colleague was reported to be turned down for increased compensation due to he had the "wrong attitude".

Nevertheless, not everyone participated in the industrial action. The company employed approximately one hundred thirty mechanics working when the industrial action was called. IF Metall states that today around seventy of its members are participating in the action.

The automaker has since replaced these with replacement staff, a situation that has no precedent since the era of the Great Depression.

"Tesla has accomplished this [found replacement staff] publicly and systematically," says German Bender, an analyst at a research institute, a think tank financed by Scandinavian labor organizations.

"It's not against the law, which is important to recognize. But it goes against all established practices. Yet the company doesn't care about norms.

"They aim to become norm breakers. Thus when somebody informs them, listen, you are breaking a standard, they perceive that as a compliment."

The automaker's local division declined requests for interview in an email mentioning "record vehicle shipments".

Indeed, the automaker has granted just a single press discussion in the two years after the strike started.

In March 2024, the Swedish subsidiary's "country lead", Jens Stark, told a business paper that it suited the company more to avoid a collective agreement, and instead "to work closely with employees and give them the best possible terms".

Mr Stark rejected that the choice not to enter a labor contract was determined at Tesla headquarters overseas. "We have a mandate to make our own such choices," he said.

The union is not entirely alone in this conflict. This industrial action has received backing from several of other unions.

Dockworkers in nearby Denmark, Norway & Finland, are refusing to process the company's vehicles; waste is no longer collected from Tesla's Scandinavian locations; while newly built charging stations remain connected to the grid in the country.

Exists an example near Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where 20 chargers stand idle. However Tibor Blomhäll, the president of enthusiasts group Tesla Club Sweden, states vehicle owners remain unaffected by the strike.

"There's another charging station 10km from here," he comments. "And we can still purchase vehicles, we can service our vehicles, we can power our electric cars."

With stakes significant on both sides, it's hard to envision a resolution to the deadlock. The union risks setting a precedent if it concedes the principle of negotiated labor contracts.

"The worry is how that would spread," states the researcher, "and ultimately {erode