Tesla may have picked an unwinnable fight with Sweden’s powerful unions — The first ever strikes and a solidarity blockade against the US carmaker could force it to rethink its entire anti-union model::The first ever strikes and a solidarity blockade against the US carmaker could force it to rethink its entire anti-union model, says journalist Martin Gelin
For you outside Sweden: There is no such thing as minimum wage. It’s perfectly legal to hire someone for 0 SEK / month.
The whole idea is that a collective agreement should be negotiated and agreed upon by the employers and employees in each business area (like telecom, healthcare, factory workers, electricians etc etc). The idea is that the employers and employees, not the politicians, knows more about what their market/business area requires and is able to deliver in the form of minimum wage, yearly salary increase, vacation and overtime (among other things) .
Here’s the thing that often is different in discusions like the one about Tesla refusing to sign a collective agreement: Collective agreements only limits the minimums. So the only reason to refuse to sign is if you intend to keep some thing below the levels that are the norm in your business area.
Essentially, you’re trying to get unfair competitive advantage.
It’s similar across Europe it sets a bare minimum. It doesn’t work as effectively across Europe though.
In Italy for example there is a set of National contracts depending on the type sector. But there’s plenty of ways to bend the rules.
There are plenty of water to bend the rules in Sweden too. Sweden always sounds like the utopia when the press describes things like this.
Journalists also wants food on the table and roof over their heads I guess…
Meanwhile in the USA I believe the supreme Court recently ruled that unions are responsible for repaying companies for striking…
If memory serves, I don’t think there were any actual damages in this case. They left a truck with a bunch of wet concrete and told someone, and the company had to haul ass so the concrete wouldn’t solidify and break the truck. They did just that. It’s ridiculous to ask for damages for that.
If they had left a fire or volatile process unattended, that would be different. Or if they created a gigantic mess for their coworkers to handle. But this isn’t either of those.
get fucked capitalist scum
I think Musk is caught up so deeply in his far right delusions by now that rethinking anything is just not on the cards.
The further you go, the harder it becomes to question why something is wrong, because if this small thing is wrong, is that other thing also wrong, and then this other thing, and before you realize it, it’s all been wrong, and that’s too hard to even begin to explore.
Thank you Europe for help fix our companies.
Even if Tesla capitulates here, they won’t change their domestic policies. This will only benefit those who are actually willing to stand up for themselves.
they also forced Apple to finally adopt usb-c!
“capitalists have picked an unwinnable fight with unions”
Tale as old as unions.
What’s the Swedish version of the Hatfields and the McCoys?
Tesla is taking out wanted ads to hire scabs.
Disgusting company, adapt to our model or go home.
Keep pressure on both sides- shame the people that still buy them. Make those scabs useless
It could, but it won’t.
That’s why you don’t fuck with vikings.
Or just the Norse in general, reminder that it was Norsemen who guarded the Roman Emperor in Constantinople.
Despite the rightwing government currently in power in Sweden, calls to change the employment model are rare.
I thought rightwing means conservative, do they use the word to mean pro-capitalist now?
That is what “right wing” means in this part of the world. Liberals and conservatives usually work together when they can form the government.
Liberals here are mostly economic liberals with little care for other freedoms
As it always been. The democrats are right-wing in Europe and the republicans are more on the right.
In Europe, you can’t dissociate the economic agenda of a party. The right is pro-capitalist and neoliberalism. The center too. The left is different. They are for a regulate capitalism and the more on the left, the heaviest on regulations.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
What started as a minor local disagreement has grown to the point that it could have global implications, with potential ripple effects for labour movements and auto workers across Europe and the US.
The financial tech company Klarna recently had to give way after several years of attempting to resist collective bargaining agreements, and settled with employees in a victory for white-collar unions.
In the US, Tesla has been involved in a number of scandals over the past decade, with allegations relating to workplace safety, racial discrimination, sexual harassment, labour violations and unlawful practices to curb unionisation efforts.
When United Auto Workers organised strikes at the “big three” car companies – General Motors, Ford and Stellantis – in Michigan this summer, three-quarters of Americans said they supported it.
(Donald Trump also showed up in Michigan, but gave a speech at a non-unionised car parts maker, which was equally characteristic of his signature working-class cosplay without policy substance.)
For Musk, there are reasons to worry that his business model could be challenged, as the fight in Sweden reverberates with the strengthening power of labour organisers across American unions.
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I fucking love this story.
