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Across Sweden, approximately 70 automotive technicians persist to challenge among the world's richest corporations – the electric vehicle manufacturer. The industrial action at the American automaker's ten Scandinavian repair facilities has now reached two years of duration, with little sign of a settlement.

One striking worker has been on the Tesla protest line since October 2023.

"It's a difficult time," remarks the 39-year-old. And as Sweden's cold seasonal conditions sets in, it is expected to grow even tougher.

Janis spends every start of the week with a colleague, positioned outside an electric vehicle service center within an industrial park located in southern Sweden. The labor organization, IF Metall, provides accommodation via a mobile builders' van, plus coffee & sandwiches.

However it's business as usual nearby, where the workshop appears to be in full swing.

This industrial action involves a matter that goes to the core of Swedish industrial culture – the right of trade unions to negotiate pay & conditions on behalf of their members. This concept of collective agreement has underpinned industrial relations across the nation for almost a century.

Currently approximately 70% of Swedish employees belong of a trade union, and ninety percent fall under by a collective agreement. Strikes across the nation are rare.

It's a system supported across the board. "We favor the right to negotiate freely with worker representatives and sign labor contracts," states a business representative from the Association of Swedish Businesses business organization.

However Tesla has disrupted established practices. Vocal CEO the company leader has stated he "disagrees" with the concept of labor organizations. "I just disapprove of anything that establishes a kind of lords and peasants sort of thing," he told listeners at an event in 2023. "I think labor groups attempt to create conflict within businesses."

Tesla entered Sweden starting in 2014, while the metalworkers' union has long wanted to establish a collective agreement with the automaker.

"But they wouldn't respond," says the union president, the union's president. "We formed the impression that they attempted to hide away or not discuss this with us."

She states the organization ultimately found no other option except to call industrial action, which started in late October, 2023. "Typically it's enough to make a warning," comments Ms Nilsson. "Employers usually agrees to the contract."

However this did not happen on this occasion.

The striking mechanic, who is from Latvia, started working with the automaker in 2021. He asserts that pay and conditions were often subject to the discretion of supervisors.

He recalls an evaluation meeting where he says he was refused an annual pay rise because that he "not reaching Tesla's goals". At the same time, a coworker was reported to be turned down for increased compensation due to he had an "inappropriate demeanor".

Nevertheless, some workers participated on strike. Tesla employed approximately one hundred thirty mechanics employed at the time the strike was called. IF Metall says currently approximately seventy of their represented workers are participating in the action.

Tesla has since substituted these with replacement staff, a situation there is not occurred since the Great Depression.

"The company has done it [found replacement staff] openly & systematically," states a labor researcher, an analyst at Arena Idé, a think tank financed by Swedish trade unions.

"It is not against the law, which is important to recognize. However it goes against all established practices. But the company shows no concern for conventions.

"They aim to become convention challengers. Thus when anyone tells them, listen, you are breaking a norm, they see that as praise."

The automaker's local division refused requests for interview in an email citing "all-time high vehicle shipments".

Indeed, the automaker has given only one press discussion in the two years after the strike started.

In March 2024, the local division's "national manager, Jens Stark, told a business paper that it benefited the organization better to avoid a union contract, and instead "to work closely with the team and provide workers the best possible conditions".

The executive denied that the choice not to enter a labor contract was one made by US leadership overseas. "We have authorization to make independent such choices," he stated.

IF Metall is not completely isolated in its fight. This industrial action has received backing from several of labor organizations.

Port workers in neighbouring Scandinavian nations, Nordic countries and Finland, are refusing to handle the company's vehicles; waste is no longer collected from Tesla's Swedish facilities; and recently constructed power points remain connected to the grid across the nation.

There is an example near Stockholm Arlanda Airport, at which twenty charging units remain unused. But Tibor Blomhäll, the president of enthusiasts group Tesla Club Sweden, states Tesla owners remain unaffected by the labor dispute.

"There exists another charging station six miles from here," he comments. "Plus we are able to still purchase vehicles, we can maintain our vehicles, we can charge our electric cars."

With stakes significant on both sides, it is difficult to see a resolution to the stand-off. IF Metall risks establishing a pattern if it concedes the principle of collective agreement.

"The worry is that this could expand," says the researcher, "and ultimately {erode