Tesla Sweden versus IF Metall: What’s the Actual Number of Striking Workers?

Key Points

• 🛠️ Ongoing strike between Tesla Sweden and IF Metall raises the question of the actual number of workers on strike.
• 📝 Tesla Sweden, under Elon Musk’s directive, refuses to sign a collective agreement, while IF Metall emphasizes the importance of such agreements in Sweden.
• 🤔 Mixed opinions among workers as some support the strike, but over 90% of Tesla’s workers, according to Tesla’s claim, choose to continue working.
• 📊 IF Metall counters Tesla’s claim, stating that the 90% figure is not accurate and that it only applies to workers within IF Metall’s contractual area, excluding white-collar workers.
• ⚖️ IF Metall acknowledges that some unionized Tesla employees may not join the strike, risking expulsion, and plans to review their cases to understand reasons for not participating.
• 📬 The strike’s details are communicated through letters to Tesla owners in Sweden, highlighting the ongoing tension between Tesla, IF Metall, and the workers.

Tesla Sweden and IF Metall’s strike is still ongoing, but one question remains: how many workers are actually on strike? 

Tesla Sweden has strict orders from Elon Musk to refrain from signing a collective agreement. Meanwhile, IF Metall says that collective agreements are the core fragment of labor rights in Sweden. The workers are in the middle of Tesla and IF Metall and their opinions on the issue are mixed. 

IF Metall recently claimed that half of the 130 service technicians at Tesla Sweden’s workshops are union members. The union also shared that only a small number of those Tesla Sweden technicians have joined the strike.

In letters sent to Tesla owners across Sweden, the Texas-based automaker claimed that over 90% of its workers decided to continue working. There are many debating whether Tesla’s claim is accurate. 

“This is how it is. Those who we have brought into conflict are those who work within IF Metall’s contractual area. It’s not all of Tesla; we don’t take out white-collar workers, for example. From that perspective, that number from Tesla is not correct,” IF Metall’s contract secretary Veli-Pekka Säikkälä told Dagens Arbete.

IF Metall admitted that some unionized Tesla employees have chosen not to join the strike. These members risk being expelled from IF Metall. The union will review the cases of union workers who have continued working for Tesla. IF Metall believes there might be an explanation as to why employees “do not dare” go on strike.