‘You can’t just make your own rules’: Tesla faces Scandi revolt as Danes join Swedish strike

Tesla Scandinavia faces a growing revolt after Danish dockworkers joined a sympathy strike with Swedish mechanics, increasing pressure on the electric vehicle giant to give workers collective bargaining rights.

Members of the Swedish trade union IF Metall have been in conflict with Tesla for six weeks, and have gained support through a secondary strike action from fellow workers across a number of industries in Sweden, including postal workers, painters, dockworkers and electricians.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed condolence The interruption of license plate delivery by postal workers was described as “insane” and a lawsuit was filed against both the Swedish Transport Agency and the postal service late last month.

After Swedish dockworkers blocked the welcome of Tesla cars to the country, there was speculation that the company would try to deliver the cars to Danish ports and transport them to Sweden by truck.

However, IF Metall requested support from Denmark’s largest trade union, which announced a sympathy strike on Tuesday.

Jan Willadsen, president of Denmark’s 3F transport union, said Tuesday that IF Metall and Swedish workers are “fighting an incredibly important fight” and that they have the full support of his union.

“Like the companies, the trade union movement is global in the fight to protect workers. With the sympathy strike, we are now taking action to put further pressure on Tesla,” Willadsen said in a statement.

“Of course, we hope that they come to the negotiating table as soon as possible and sign a collective agreement.”

In a direct attack on Musk, Willadsen said that “even if you’re one of the richest people in the world, you can’t just make your own rules.”

“In the Nordic region we have certain labor market agreements and you have to follow them if you want to run a business here,” he said.

“Solidarity is the cornerstone of the trade union movement and extends across national borders. So, we are now taking the tools we have and using them to secure collective agreements and fair working conditions.”

All members of 3F Transport fall under the sympathy strike, meaning that dockworkers and drivers will not receive and transport Tesla cars in Sweden.

Swedish labor relations are shaped by a series of agreements reached in the 20th century, meaning that almost all wages are subject to collective agreements between companies and labor unions, without any government intervention.

Tesla has so far refused to sign one of these collective bargaining agreements, leading about 120 mechanics in Sweden to launch strike action in late October.

The striking workers are not demanding higher wages, but are demanding Tesla respect the principle of collective bargaining. This dispute highlights the possibility of an ongoing ideological standoff not only between Tesla and the 120 mechanics, but also between American corporate power and the deeply entrenched principles underpinning the Scandinavian economic model.

The expansion of solidarity strikes in Denmark could signal further problems for Musk amid the risk of similar solidarity actions in Norway and Germany, where collective agreements are also a key principle of labor relations.

IF Metal told CNBC on Tuesday that it has no ongoing talks with Tesla, but expects the US giant to “return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.”

The union said, “We are confident that eventually they will realize that a collective agreement is beneficial for them as well. We are prepared for a long struggle, but we are hoping for a quick solution.”

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.