Gary Zhou 
Key Points
- ⚙️ Tesla faces a potential strike notice from IF Metall, a Swedish company, if the automaker refuses to sign a collective agreement.
- 🤝 Tesla and IF Metall recently met with mediators to discuss the agreement, but Tesla maintained its decision not to sign.
- 🇸🇪 The strike is motivated by IF Metall’s desire to ensure decent and safe working conditions for its members and the failure to reach a collective agreement with Tesla.
- 💼 Collective agreements in Sweden are fundamental to the labor market, covering various aspects like wages, employment terms, pensions, working hours, vacations, and notice periods.
- 🛠️ If an agreement isn’t reached by October 27, 120 Tesla mechanics across seven workshops in Sweden, who are part of the IF Metall union, plan to go on strike, affecting aspects such as wages and insurance.
- 🇺🇸 Similar labor challenges are faced by automakers like Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis with the United Auto Workers (UAW) in the United States.
Tesla might get a strike notice from Swedish company IF Metall if the EV automaker doesn’t sign a collective agreement.
On Tuesday, October 24, Tesla and IF Metall held a meeting in the presence of mediators from the Mediation Institution. According to IF Metall’s contract secretary Veli-Pekka Säikkälä, Tesla stood by its decision not to sign a collective agreement.
“Therefore, we are not extending our notice to appeal to additional workers associated with Tesla’s vehicles around the country,” stated Säikkälä.
“The main reason for IF Metall to take industrial action at Tesla is to ensure that our members have decent and safe working conditions. Over a long period of time, we have attempted to discuss with Tesla the signing of a collective agreement, yet without success. Now we see no solution other than to take industrial action,” IF Metall said in a public statement.
Collective agreements are the foundation of the labor market in Sweden. In the European country, state governments and politicians do not interfere with the labor market, leaving trade unions and employers to determine the rules. Collective agreements include parameters for wages, form of employment, occupational pension, working hours, vacations, and periods of notice.
On Friday, October 27, Tesla mechanics who are part of the IF Metall union will walk off the job if the company does not sign a collective agreement. 120 Tesla mechanics at seven workshops across Sweden will join the strike on Friday.
“This conflict is about our members’ wages, pensions, and insurances. And in the end it is about the playing rules on the Swedish labor market,” said the head of IF Metall’s collective agreements, Veli-Pekka Saikkala.
The Detroit 3–Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis–are all facing similar challenges with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in the United States. Recently, Ford and the UAW announced reaching a tentative agreement, which is currently being assessed by the union.
