The deadlock between Tesla Sweden and the metalworkers’ union IF Metall reached new heights after other unions decided to join the latter side, resulting in a barrier against the expansion of Tesla Superchargers in the country.
The quarrel started in October 2023, when 130 members of the IF Metall left seven workshops across Sweden, where Tesla models are serviced (Tesla has no factory in Sweden). The move came as a protest against Tesla’s refusal to sign the collective bargaining agreement provided to most of the employees in Sweden.
The protest instigated a snowball effect, as other unions supported IF Metall, including dockworkers stopping the delivery of Tesla vehicles and companies under Painter’s Union refusing to paint Tesla vehicles.
Tesla did not suffer from the initial reaction much, with the Tesla Model Y becoming the top-selling electric passenger car in the country last year.
As 2024 kicked in, the pressure against Tesla started to mount. In February, two giants, the construction and property development group Skanska and tech company ABB, decided to stop purchasing Tesla vehicles.
Supercharger installations stopped
It took Tesla five months to react to these developments. In a statement last month, Tesla Sweden Market Lead Jens Stark said, ‘Tesla works very closely with employees, and no one asks a question about collective agreements, on the contrary seeking different solutions in this case.’
In his comments to Dagens Industri, Stark added, “Tesla Sweden is putting too much effort into benefits and compensation to create a strong correlation between satisfied employees and company success.”
Unfortunately for him, things took a downward shift for Tesla in April, as the Swedish Union for Service and Communications Employees (Seko) and the Electricians Union (Elektrikerna) joined the resistance and put the installation of Superchargers on hold.
According to Dagens Arbete (DA), Tesla plans to install 35 new Superchargers in Sweden in the coming years, 20 of which will be installed this year. However, this plan came to a halt when Seko members stopped connecting Superchargers to local grids in March. By the end of March, the Elektrikerna joined the blockade.
This will be tough for Tesla to overcome, as local energy companies own and manage the power infrastructure, tying Tesla’s hands in connecting cables to grids. Any grid owner company with a collective agreement with Seko will most likely block grid access to Tesla until the deadlock with IF Metall is solved. One example is the city of Ljungby in the Småland region, where Ljungby Energi denied providing energy to Tesla due to the ongoing quarrel.
Tesla has yet to react to the blockade from the energy suppliers.
The main photo is courtesy of Tesla.
Source link : https://www.fleeteurope.com/en/new-energies/europe-sweden/news/tesla-superchargers-hit-union-barrier-sweden
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Publish date : 2024-04-12 03:00:00
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