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Across Sweden, around seventy car mechanics continue to confront one of the globe's wealthiest corporations – the electric vehicle manufacturer. This industrial action targeting the American carmaker's ten Scandinavian repair facilities has currently entered its second anniversary, and there is minimal sign of a settlement.

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

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

The mechanic spends every start of the week alongside a fellow worker, positioned near an electric vehicle service center within a business district located in southern Sweden. The labor organization, the Swedish metalworkers' union, supplies shelter via a mobile construction vehicle, plus coffee & light meals.

However it remains business as usual nearby, where the service facility appears to operate in full swing.

This industrial action involves a matter that reaches to the heart of Scandinavia's industrial culture – the authority of trade unions to negotiate wages & working terms representing their workforce. This principle of collective agreement has supported labor dynamics across the nation for almost one hundred years.

Currently approximately seventy percent of Scandinavia's employees are members to labor organizations, while 90% are covered under negotiated labor contracts. Strikes in Sweden are rare.

It's a system supported across the board. "We prefer the ability to bargain freely with worker representatives and establish collective agreements," states a business representative from the Association of Swedish Businesses employer group.

But the electric car company has disrupted established practices. Vocal CEO Elon Musk has stated he "disagrees" with the idea of unions. "I simply don't like anything that establishes a sort of hierarchical sort of thing," he told an audience at an event in 2023. "In my view labor groups try to generate negativity within businesses."

Tesla entered Sweden back in 2014, and IF Metall has for years wanted to secure a labor contract with the company.

"Yet they wouldn't respond," states Marie Nilsson, the organization's president. "We formed the impression that they attempted to hide away or not discuss the matter with us."

She says the organization eventually found no other option than to announce industrial action, beginning on 27 October, 2023. "Typically the threat suffices to make a warning," comments the union leader. "Employers typically signs the contract."

However this did not happen in this case.

The striking mechanic, originally from Latvia, began employment for Tesla several years ago. He claims that pay and conditions were often dependent on the discretion of managers.

He remembers a performance review where he states he was refused a salary increase because that he "not reaching company targets". Meanwhile, a colleague was said to have been turned down for a pay rise because he had an "inappropriate demeanor".

However, some workers went out in the industrial action. The company had some one hundred thirty technicians employed at the time the strike was called. IF Metall says that today approximately 70 of its members are participating in the action.

The automaker has since replaced these with new workers, a situation that has no precedent since the Great Depression.

"Tesla has accomplished this [found replacement staff] openly and systematically," says a labor researcher, an analyst at a research institute, a policy organization financed by Swedish trade unions.

"It is not illegal, which is important to recognize. However it violates all traditional practices. But the company shows no concern for conventions.

"They want to become convention challengers. So if anyone informs them, listen, you are breaking a standard, they see that as praise."

The automaker's Swedish subsidiary refused attempts for interview via correspondence citing "all-time high deliveries".

In fact, the company has given only one media interview during the entire period since the strike started.

Earlier this year, the local division's "national manager, Jens Stark, informed a business paper that it benefited the organization more to avoid a union contract, and rather "to collaborate directly with the team and give workers the best possible terms".

Mr Stark rejected that the choice not to enter a labor contract was one made at Tesla headquarters overseas. "We have a mandate to take our own such decisions," he stated.

The union is not entirely alone in its fight. The strike has received backing by a number of labor organizations.

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

Exists an example near Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where twenty chargers remain unused. But a Tesla enthusiast, the president of an owner's club the Swedish Tesla association, says vehicle owners are unaffected by the strike.

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

With consequences high for all parties, it's hard to envision a resolution to the deadlock. IF Metall faces the danger of setting a precedent should it surrender the principle of collective agreement.

"The worry is how that would spread," states Mr Bender, "and ultimately {erode