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Across Sweden, approximately 70 car technicians continue to confront one of the globe's richest corporations – Tesla. The labor strike at the US automaker's ten Swedish service centers has currently entered two years of duration, with little sign of a settlement.

Janis Kuzma has been at the electric car company's protest line since the autumn of 2023.

"It's a difficult time," states the 39-year-old. And as Sweden's cold winter weather arrives, it's likely to become even tougher.

Janis spends each Monday with a colleague, standing outside an electric vehicle service center on an industrial park located in southern Sweden. The labor organization, the Swedish metalworkers' union, supplies shelter via a portable construction vehicle, plus hot beverages & sandwiches.

But it's business as usual across the road, where the workshop appears to operate at full capacity.

The strike involves an issue that reaches to the core of Scandinavia's labor traditions – the right for worker organizations to negotiate pay and conditions representing their workforce. This principle of collective agreement has underpinned labor dynamics across the nation for almost a century.

Today approximately 70% of Swedish workers are members of a trade union, while ninety percent are covered by a collective agreement. Strikes across the nation occur infrequently.

It's a system welcomed by all parties. "We prefer the right to bargain freely with worker representatives and sign labor contracts," states a business representative from the Association of Swedish Businesses employer group.

But Tesla has disrupted established practices. Outspoken chief executive the company leader has stated he "disagrees" with the concept of labor organizations. "I simply don't like any arrangement that establishes a kind of lords and peasants situation," he told an audience at an event last year. "I think labor groups attempt to create conflict in a company."

The automaker entered the Scandinavian market back in the mid-2010s, and IF Metall has long wanted to establish a labor contract with the company.

"Yet they wouldn't respond," states Marie Nilsson, the organization's president. "And we got the impression that they tried to hide away or not discuss this with our representatives."

She says the organization eventually saw no other option except to announce industrial action, which started on 27 October, last year. "Usually it's enough to issue a warning," comments the union leader. "The company usually agrees to the contract."

But this did not happen on this occasion.

The striking mechanic, who is of Latvian origin, began employment with the automaker several years ago. He claims that pay and conditions were often dependent on the whim of supervisors.

He recalls an evaluation meeting at which he states he was refused an annual pay rise because he was "failing to meet Tesla's goals". Meanwhile, a coworker was said to be turned down for increased compensation due to he had the "wrong attitude".

Nevertheless, some workers participated in the industrial action. Tesla had some one hundred thirty technicians working at the time the strike was initiated. IF Metall says currently approximately 70 of their represented workers are on strike.

Tesla has since substituted these with new workers, for which there is not occurred since the era of the Great Depression.

"The company has accomplished this [found replacement staff] publicly & systematically," states German Bender, an analyst at Arena Idé, a policy organization supported by Scandinavian labor organizations.

"It's not against the law, which is important to understand. But it violates all established practices. Yet Tesla shows no concern about norms.

"They want to become norm breakers. Thus when somebody informs them, listen, you are breaking a standard, they perceive that as a compliment."

The company's Swedish subsidiary refused requests for interview via correspondence citing "all-time high vehicle shipments".

Indeed, the automaker has given only one press discussion during the entire period after the industrial action started.

In March 2024, the Swedish subsidiary's "national manager, Jens Stark, told a business paper that it benefited the company better to avoid a collective agreement, and rather "to work closely with employees and provide them the best possible terms".

Mr Stark rejected that the choice to avoid a labor contract was one made at Tesla headquarters overseas. "Our division possesses authorization to take independent such choices," he stated.

The union is not completely isolated in this conflict. The strike has received backing from several of labor organizations.

Dockworkers in nearby Denmark, Nordic countries & neighboring states, are refusing to handle Teslas; waste is not removed from the automaker's Swedish facilities; while recently constructed power points remain linked to power networks across the nation.

There is an example near Stockholm Arlanda Airport, at which 20 charging units stand idle. But Tibor Blomhäll, the president of enthusiasts group the Swedish Tesla association, states vehicle owners remain unaffected by the strike.

"There's another charging station six miles from here," he says. "And we can still purchase vehicles, we can maintain our vehicles, we can power our electric cars."

With stakes significant on both sides, it is difficult to envision a resolution to the stand-off. The union risks setting a precedent should it surrender the fundamental concept of negotiated labor contracts.

"The worry is how that would spread," says Mr Bender, "and ultimately {erode