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In Sweden, approximately seventy car mechanics persist to challenge among the globe's richest corporations – the electric vehicle manufacturer. This industrial action targeting the US automaker's ten Scandinavian service centers has now reached its second anniversary, with little indication for a settlement.

One striking worker has remained on the Tesla picket line starting from the autumn of 2023.

"It's a difficult time," remarks the 39-year-old. And as Sweden's chilly winter weather arrives, it is expected to become even tougher.

The mechanic devotes each Monday with a fellow worker, positioned near a Tesla garage within a business district in Malmö. His union, IF Metall, provides shelter in the form of a portable construction vehicle, as well as hot beverages & sandwiches.

However it's operations continue normally across the road, where the workshop seems to be in full swing.

The strike concerns a matter that reaches to the heart of Swedish labor traditions – the right of trade unions to negotiate pay & conditions on behalf of their members. This principle of negotiated labor contracts has underpinned industrial relations in Sweden for nearly a century.

Currently approximately 70% of Swedish workers are members of a trade union, and ninety percent fall under by a collective agreement. Labor stoppages in Sweden are rare.

It's a system supported across the board. "We prefer the ability to negotiate directly with worker representatives and sign collective agreements," says a business representative from the Association of Swedish Businesses business organization.

But the electric car company has disrupted established practices. Outspoken CEO the company leader has stated he "disagrees" with the idea of labor organizations. "I just disapprove of anything which creates a sort of lords and peasants situation," he told an audience in New York in 2023. "I think labor groups try to create conflict within businesses."

The automaker entered Sweden starting in 2014, and the metalworkers' union has for years sought to establish a labor contract with the automaker.

"But they wouldn't reply," says Marie Nilsson, the union's president. "And we got the impression that they tried to hide away or not discuss this with us."

She states the organization ultimately saw no alternative except to announce industrial action, beginning on 27 October, 2023. "Typically it's enough to issue the threat," comments the union leader. "Employers usually signs the contract."

However not on this occasion.

Janis Kuzma, originally from Latvia, began employment for Tesla in 2021. He claims that pay & work terms frequently subject to the whim of managers.

He recalls an evaluation meeting where he states he was denied an annual pay rise because that he "failing to meet company targets". Meanwhile, a colleague was said to have been rejected for a pay rise because he had the "wrong attitude".

However, not everyone went out on strike. The company employed approximately one hundred thirty technicians working at the time the industrial action was initiated. IF Metall says that today around 70 of their represented workers are participating in the action.

The automaker has since substituted the striking workers with replacement staff, a situation that has no precedent since the 1930s.

"The company has accomplished this [found replacement staff] publicly and systematically," states German Bender, an analyst at a research institute, a think tank supported by Swedish trade unions.

"It is not illegal, this being crucial to understand. However it violates all traditional norms. But the company shows no concern about norms.

"They aim to be norm breakers. Thus when somebody informs them, hey, you are violating a norm, they perceive that as praise."

The company's local division refused attempts for comment in an email mentioning "all-time high deliveries".

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

Earlier this year, the local division's "national manager, Jens Stark, told a financial publication that it benefited the organization better to avoid a collective agreement, and instead "to work closely with the team and give them optimal terms".

Mr Stark rejected that the decision to avoid a collective agreement was one made at Tesla headquarters in the US. "We have a mandate to take independent such decisions," he stated.

IF Metall is not completely isolated in its fight. This industrial action has received backing by a number of labor organizations.

Port workers in neighbouring Denmark, Norway & neighboring states, are refusing to process Teslas; waste is not collected from the automaker's Scandinavian locations; while recently constructed power points are not being linked to power networks across the nation.

Exists one such facility close to the capital's airport, at which twenty charging units stand idle. However a Tesla enthusiast, the leader of enthusiasts group Tesla Club Sweden, states Tesla owners remain unaffected by the strike.

"There's another charging station six miles from this location," he comments. "Plus we are able to still purchase vehicles, we can service our cars, we can power our electric cars."

With stakes significant for all parties, it's hard to envision an end to the stand-off. IF Metall faces the danger of setting a precedent should it surrender the principle of collective agreement.

"The concern is how this could expand," says Mr Bender, "and ultimately {erode