Tesla sues Swedish government after worker rebellion cripples car biz
- Reference: 1701112511
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/11/27/tesla_sweden_strike_lawsuit/
- Source link:
Tesla sued the Swedish Transport Agency Monday after employees affiliated with Sweden's public service union, Fackförbundent ST, [1]stopped delivering mail, including license plates, to Tesla, local news sources [2]reported Monday.
In Sweden, all license plates for new vehicles are delivered through Postnord, Sweden's postal agency, meaning the blockade prevents newly-purchased Teslas from becoming road legal.
[3]
"This confiscation of license plates constitutes a discriminatory attack without any support in law directed at Tesla," the automaker reportedly said. "Tesla demands that the district court obliges the Swedish Transport Agency to ensure that registration plates for the vehicles owned by Tesla … come into Tesla's possession," Elon's Musketeers requested.
[4]
[5]
For those unfamiliar with the strike that kicked off ST and other union's sympathy actions, the fracas began in late October with Swedish labor union IF Metall, which represents industrial workers in automotive industries, among others. Tesla has refused to deal with the local union and so staff [6]went on strike on October 27, and other workers have been helping them out.
"Tesla is good at green conversion, but now also needs to ensure sustainability for the employees. They do this by signing a collective agreement," IF Metall said in a discussion of its [7]reasons for striking.
Tesla is digging itself a EU-sized labor hole
Swedish labor rights are incredibly strong, with white-collar trade group Unionen [8]estimating some 70 percent of workers in the country are members of one of Sweden's many trade unions.
The government stays largely uninvolved in matters between unions and employers, meaning much of the labor market is controlled through agreements between employers and employees and not by state regulators, who only intervene in extreme cases.
[9]
As part of "the Swedish model," sympathy actions - known as sympatiåtgärd - like ST's blockade on delivering mail to Tesla, are entirely legal. That said, ST isn't the only union to have announced sympathy action [10]in support of IF Metall's Tesla strike .
The Swedish Transport Workers Union has been [11]blockading ports across Sweden and refusing to load or unload Tesla vehicles from arriving ships since November 17, [12]as has the Harbor Workers Union.
[13]Workers who help Teslas become robots explore starting a union to avoid same fate
[14]Tesla fires gigafactory staff after someone made the mistake of mentioning unions
[15]Tesla ran over worker rights, again, US labor judge finds
[16]Tesla broke US labor law with anti-union efforts – watchdog
[17]Real estate , [18]painters and [19]builders unions have all announced sympathy actions as well, and the Service and Communications Union has also [20]announced a blockade action in support of ST's mail delivery strike.
The Electricians' Union, meanwhile, has issued several [21]notices that largely mean they won't touch damaged Tesla chargers or deal with electrical issues at Tesla facilities. If the union issue isn't resolved by December 1, electricians [22]said they'll also cease working on transformer stations and feeder lines connecting to Tesla charging stations.
Most critically, however, was an [23]announcement last week from Norwegian firm Hydro Extrusions. The company, which manufactures components for Tesla vehicles at a factory in Vetlanda, Sweden, said it would cease production of Tesla components on Friday.
[24]
"[Hydro Extrusions] delivers components to Tesla's factory in Berlin, and if this causes disruption to them we hope to force them back to the negotiation table," IF Metall negotiation secretary Veli-Pekka Saikkala told Automotive News Europe Friday. Per Saikkala, Hydro Extrusions is the only European manufacturer of the Tesla components it produces, meaning the Swedish strike's reach could soon affect operations at the company's [25]German gigafactory , taking the strike international.
Whether the move would cause Tesla to cave is unclear - it didn't respond to questions. Owner Elon Musk last week called the sympathy strikes "insane" in a [26]post to X, his personal social media platform. ®
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[1] https://www.publikt.se/nyhet/st-varslar-om-sympatiatgarder-mot-tesla-25713
[2] https://www.thelocal.se/20231127/tesla-sues-swedish-transport-agency-over-number-plate-blockage
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZWUflUqbFW7CAMqLeDN4RgAAAIQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZWUflUqbFW7CAMqLeDN4RgAAAIQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZWUflUqbFW7CAMqLeDN4RgAAAIQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.ifmetall.se/aktuellt/tesla/
[7] https://www.ifmetall.se/aktuellt/tesla/darfor-tvingas-if-metall-att-strejka/fragor-och-svar-om-if-metalls-konflikt-med-tesla/
[8] https://www.unionen.se/in-english/how-swedish-labour-market-works
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZWUflUqbFW7CAMqLeDN4RgAAAIQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.ifmetall.se/aktuellt/tesla/darfor-tvingas-if-metall-att-strejka/sympatiatgarder-fran-andra-fackforbund/
[11] https://www.transportarbetaren.se/transport-utokar-blockaden-till-att-galla-alla-svenska-hamnar/
[12] https://hamn.nu/article/2955/Hamnarbetarforbundet-varslar-om-sympatiatgarder-till-stod-for-Teslas-verkstadsarbetare.html
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/15/tesla_autopilot_workers_are_launching/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/16/tesla_fires_dozens_at_factory/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/28/us_labor_board_tesla/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/26/tesla_labor_law/
[17] https://www.fastighets.se/om-oss/nyheter/20232/fastighets-lagger-sympativarsel-mot-tesla/
[18] https://malarnasfacktidning.se/2023/11/malarna-varslar-53-lackforetag-stoppar-arbetet-med-tesla-bilar/
[19] https://www.byggnads.se/aktuellt/2023/byggnads-varslar-till-stod-for-if-metall/
[20] https://www.seko.se/press-och-aktuellt/nyheter/2023/seko-stoppar-brev-och-paket-till-tesla/
[21] https://www.sef.se/om-oss/nyheter/2023/elektrikerna-backar-if-metall-och-varslar-om-sympatiatgarder/
[22] https://tidningenelektrikern.se/2023/11/21/elektrikerna-utokar-varslet-mot-tesla/
[23] https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/teslas-swedish-labor-dispute-threatens-production
[24] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZWUflUqbFW7CAMqLeDN4RgAAAIQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[25] https://www.theregister.com/2019/11/13/tesla_berlin/
[26] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1727564977869844865?s=20
[27] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I am enjoying this dispute
Yet another stupid lawsuit from Musk who seems to believe that all should bow down before his greatness.
“One hundred idiots make idiotic plans and carry them out. All but one justly fail. The hundredth idiot, whose plan succeeded through pure luck, is immediately convinced he’s a genius.”
― Iain M. Banks
Re: I am enjoying this dispute
I had a boss who was utterly useless; people management, project management, technical competency, customer relations.... you name it and he could bugger it up. In the dim and distant past he'd managed a stunning bid win which did wonders for the company and won him promotion after promotion based on that one success. He never stopped referring to the bid and we ended up playing "When I managed the xxx bid..." bingo in meetings.
Re: I am enjoying this dispute
And that sums up ( one form of ) modern stupidity. Because some (mostly ) already well heeled individuals get lucky and become the super rich we hold them up as if they were somehow brilliant, rather than the statistical outliers that they really are.
It seems that Tesla have [1]been granted an interim judgment requiring the transport agency to allow Tesla to collect the licence plates themselves. Though I can't help feeling that might just backfire.
[1] https://www.ft.com/content/e86693fa-f09e-4a2e-a335-94cbc2eb4f8b
If I were the judge I would have denied it just for "Tesla demands that the district court obliges the Swedish Transport Agency".
It's impressive to see unions developing their full power.
Dinanziame: “ It's impressive to see unions developing their full power. Sometimes you wish it would happen more often ”
I've never known a union to do me any good. When there's a down-turn in the market there are lay-offs. But the union execs get to keep their jobs.
--
“ The title contains some characters we can’t support ” :(
Tesla should deal
I've seen some statements that claim 90% of Tesla employees in Sweden do NOT want to organize. I'd say that's a slam dunk for Tesla to not try to prevent any votes or other organizing activities. The problem as it's described seems to be more about the obstruction by Tesla than anything else. Is there another take? What am I missing? I know Elon is a rabid anti-unionist, but having a group of employees vote down joining a union sounds like a win for his views. Maybe he needs to post a Xit calling all of the union bosses pedo's.
Re: Tesla should deal
'Xit' – I must admit I hadn't come across this descriptor before. I like it. What a perfect description of the reality it points to.
Re: Tesla should deal
But this isn't Tesla employees - it's a political move by an essentially government union.
Suppose as a protest about Gaza whichever union does airport immigration desks decided it wasn't going to process [Jewish/Muslim] visitors ?
Re: Tesla should deal
If it really was 90% he would have let them vote, and excitedly tweet about his "win" the moment the results were announced.
The fact he's fighting so hard shows that the 90% is complete fiction. Sweden is a very pro union country, that seems very unlikely to be the case. Even if the vote would be close, all this fighting he's doing is likely to push those who aren't looking to unionize to reconsider. They would have to ask themselves, what is he so afraid of that is causing him to fight so hard?
Re: Tesla should deal
I've seen some statements that claim the world is flat. It doesn't mean I should believe them.
Exponentially ridiculous
Can't wait for the lawsuit where Musk sues the World for emotional distress when it finally gets fed up with tolerating his overbearing bullshit.
X
"His personal social media platform" is spot on, and all press organs should adopt that terminology.
Welcome to Europe
where workers actually have some rights under the law. Comes with the territory. If he doesn’t like it he can always build his factories where he can legally treat the staff like his personal slaves, like maybe some of the more right wing states of the US of A.
TLDR
I was going to write a long and vitriolic screed about all this, but after stepping back for a moment and taking a couple of deep breaths, I realised that what I wanted to say would condense down to:
"Just Fuck Off, Elon Musk."
Re: TLDR
How about "Twitler is a twat|wanker|racist|antisemite|grifter|whoreson|git|cockwomble" and you just pick any that are applicable to the situation, or add your own?
FFS
I can certainly understand why Tesla would be upset that there's this disruption in their ability to get cars to customers, but to try and make it seem like the union is targeting Tesla specifically is just more of the usual shite people have come to expect from anything involving Twitler. He's clearly not just already gone over the deep end, he's still in accelerating freefall and his Twitter-born insanity has spilled over into Tesla. His babysitters minders seem to be increasingly unable to rein him in.
It's impressive to see unions developing their full power. Sometimes you wish it would happen more often.
Couldn't happen to a nicer CEO, too