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In Sweden, around seventy car technicians persist to confront among the world's wealthiest corporations – Tesla. The labor strike at the US automaker's ten Scandinavian repair facilities has now reached its second anniversary, with little sign of a resolution.

One striking worker has been on the Tesla picket line starting from October 2023.

"It has been a tough time," states the worker in his late thirties. And as the nation's cold seasonal conditions sets in, it's likely to become even tougher.

The mechanic spends each Monday alongside a colleague, standing outside a Tesla garage on a business district in Malmö. His union, IF Metall, provides accommodation via a portable construction vehicle, plus hot beverages and light meals.

However it's business as usual nearby, at which the service facility appears to be at full capacity.

This industrial action involves an issue that goes to the core of Scandinavia's industrial culture – the authority for worker organizations to bargain for wages and conditions representing their members. This concept of collective agreement has underpinned labor dynamics across the nation for almost a century.

Today approximately seventy percent of Swedish employees belong to labor organizations, while ninety percent are covered under negotiated labor contracts. Labor stoppages across the nation are rare.

This is a system supported across the board. "We prefer the ability to negotiate directly with the unions and sign collective agreements," states Mattias Dahl of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise business organization.

However Tesla has upset established practices. Outspoken CEO Elon Musk has stated he "disagrees" with the concept of labor organizations. "I simply disapprove of anything that establishes a kind of hierarchical situation," he told an audience at an event last year. "I think labor groups try to generate conflict within businesses."

Tesla entered the Scandinavian market back in 2014, while IF Metall has for years wanted to establish a labor contract with the automaker.

"Yet they did not reply," says the union president, the union's leader. "And we got the belief that they attempted to hide away or not discuss the matter with us."

She states the organization eventually saw no alternative than to announce a strike, beginning in late October, 2023. "Typically it's enough to make a warning," comments the union leader. "Employers usually signs the agreement."

However not in this case.

Janis Kuzma, originally of Latvian origin, began employment for Tesla several years ago. He asserts that wages & conditions frequently dependent on the discretion of managers.

He recalls an evaluation meeting at which he says he was denied a salary increase because that he "not reaching Tesla's goals". At the same time, a colleague was reported to have been turned down for increased compensation due to he had an "inappropriate demeanor".

Nevertheless, not everyone participated on strike. Tesla had approximately one hundred thirty technicians working at the time the industrial action was initiated. IF Metall says currently approximately seventy of their represented workers are participating in the action.

The automaker has long since replaced the striking workers with replacement staff, a situation there is not occurred since the Great Depression.

"The company has done it [found replacement staff] openly & methodically," says German Bender, an analyst at a research institute, a policy organization financed by Swedish trade unions.

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

"They want to be norm breakers. Thus when anyone tells them, listen, you are violating a standard, they see this as a compliment."

The automaker's local division declined requests for interview in an email citing "record deliveries".

Indeed, the automaker has given only one media interview during the entire period since the industrial action started.

Earlier this year, the local division's "national manager, the executive, told a business paper that it suited the company more to avoid a union contract, and rather "to collaborate directly with employees and provide workers optimal conditions".

Mr Stark rejected that the choice not to enter a labor contract was one made by US leadership in the US. "Our division possesses a mandate to take our own such decisions," he said.

The union is not completely isolated in this conflict. This industrial action has received backing from several of other unions.

Port workers in nearby Denmark, Nordic countries & Finland, decline to process Teslas; waste is not removed from Tesla's Swedish facilities; while newly built charging stations are not being linked to power networks across the nation.

Exists an example close to Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where twenty chargers stand idle. But a Tesla enthusiast, the president of enthusiasts group the Swedish Tesla association, says Tesla owners are unaffected by the labor dispute.

"There exists another charging station 10km from here," he comments. "And we can still purchase vehicles, we can maintain our vehicles, we can charge our cars."

With consequences significant on both sides, it's hard to see an end to the deadlock. IF Metall risks establishing a pattern should it surrender the fundamental concept of negotiated labor contracts.

"The concern is how this could expand," says Mr Bender, "and ultimately {erode