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In Sweden, approximately 70 automotive mechanics continue to confront among the globe's richest corporations – Tesla. The labor strike targeting the US automaker's 10 Swedish repair facilities has now entered its second anniversary, and there is minimal sign of a resolution.

Janis Kuzma has been on the Tesla protest line starting from October 2023.

"It's a difficult period," states the 39-year-old. And as Sweden's chilly seasonal conditions sets in, it is expected to become even tougher.

The mechanic spends every start of the week with a fellow worker, standing outside a Tesla service center on a business district in Malmö. His union, IF Metall, supplies accommodation in the form of a mobile builders' van, plus hot beverages & light meals.

However it remains business as usual nearby, at which the service facility seems to be at full capacity.

This industrial action concerns a matter that goes to the heart of Scandinavia's industrial culture – the authority for worker organizations to negotiate wages and working terms representing their workforce. This principle of collective agreement has supported industrial relations in Sweden for nearly one hundred years.

Today approximately seventy percent of Scandinavia's employees are members of a trade union, and ninety percent are covered by a collective agreement. Labor stoppages in Sweden are rare.

This is a system supported across the board. "We favor the right to bargain directly with worker representatives and sign labor contracts," states Mattias Dahl of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise employer group.

However the electric car company has disrupted the apple cart. Outspoken CEO the company leader has stated he "opposes" with the concept of labor organizations. "I just don't like anything which creates a sort of hierarchical sort of thing," he informed an audience in New York in 2023. "In my view labor groups attempt to generate conflict in a company."

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

"Yet they did not respond," states the union president, the union's president. "And we got the belief that they attempted to hide away or not discuss this with our representatives."

She states the organization eventually found no other option except to announce industrial action, which started on 27 October, last year. "Typically the threat suffices to make a warning," comments Ms Nilsson. "The company usually signs the contract."

However not in this case.

The striking mechanic, originally from Latvia, began employment with the automaker several years ago. He claims that pay and work terms frequently dependent on the discretion of managers.

He remembers a performance review where he states he was denied a salary increase on grounds that he "failing to meet Tesla's goals". Meanwhile, a coworker was reported to have been turned down for increased compensation because having the "wrong attitude".

Nevertheless, some workers went out on strike. The company had approximately one hundred thirty technicians working when the strike was called. IF Metall states currently around 70 of its members are participating in the action.

The automaker has long since replaced the striking workers with replacement staff, for which there is no precedent since the 1930s.

"Tesla has accomplished this [found replacement staff] openly & systematically," says German Bender, an analyst at a research institute, a think tank supported by Swedish trade unions.

"It's not against the law, this being crucial to understand. But it violates all established practices. But the company shows no concern about norms.

"They aim to become convention challengers. So if somebody tells them, listen, you are violating a norm, they perceive that as praise."

The company's Swedish subsidiary refused attempts for comment in an email citing "record deliveries".

Indeed, the automaker has granted only one media interview during the entire period since the industrial action began.

Earlier this year, the local division's "national manager, the executive, told a business paper that it suited the company better not to have a union contract, and instead "to work closely with the team and provide workers the best possible terms".

Mr Stark rejected that the decision not to enter a labor contract was one made by US leadership in the US. "We have a mandate to take our own such decisions," he said.

IF Metall is not completely isolated in its fight. The strike has received backing by a number of labor organizations.

Dockworkers in neighbouring Scandinavian nations, Nordic countries and neighboring states, decline to process the company's vehicles; rubbish is no longer collected from Tesla's Swedish facilities; and recently constructed charging stations are not being linked to power networks in the country.

There is one such facility near Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where 20 charging units stand idle. However a Tesla enthusiast, the leader of enthusiasts group the Swedish Tesla association, says vehicle owners are unaffected by the strike.

"There's an alternative power point six miles from this location," he comments. "And we can continue to buy our cars, we can maintain our vehicles, we can charge our cars."

With consequences significant on both sides, it is difficult to see a resolution to the stand-off. IF Metall risks setting a precedent should it surrender the principle of collective agreement.

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