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Across Sweden, around 70 car technicians continue to confront one of the world's richest corporations – the electric vehicle manufacturer. The industrial action targeting the American carmaker's 10 Swedish repair facilities has now reached its second anniversary, and there is little indication of a settlement.

One striking worker has been at the electric car company's protest line since the autumn of 2023.

"It's a tough period," states the 39-year-old. And as Sweden's chilly winter weather sets in, it is expected to become even tougher.

The mechanic devotes every start of the week with a fellow worker, standing near an electric vehicle service center on a business district in Malmö. His union, the Swedish metalworkers' union, provides accommodation in the form of a portable builders' van, as well as coffee & light meals.

But it's operations continue normally nearby, at which the service facility seems to be in full swing.

The strike involves an issue that goes to the heart of Scandinavia's industrial culture – the right for worker organizations to negotiate wages and working terms on behalf of their workforce. This concept of negotiated labor contracts has underpinned industrial relations across the nation for nearly a century.

Today some seventy percent of Swedish employees are members to labor organizations, while ninety percent are covered by a collective agreement. Labor stoppages across the nation occur infrequently.

This is an arrangement supported by all parties. "We prefer the ability to negotiate freely with worker representatives and sign collective agreements," states Mattias Dahl from the Association of Swedish Enterprise employer group.

But the electric car company has disrupted the apple cart. Outspoken chief executive Elon Musk has said he "opposes" with the idea of unions. "I just don't like anything which creates a sort of lords and peasants sort of thing," he informed an audience in New York in 2023. "I think the unions attempt to generate conflict within businesses."

The automaker entered Sweden starting in the mid-2010s, and IF Metall has long sought to secure a collective agreement with the company.

"Yet they wouldn't reply," states Marie Nilsson, the organization's leader. "We formed the impression that they tried to avoid or not discuss the matter with our representatives."

She states the organization ultimately found no other option than to announce a strike, which started on 27 October, 2023. "Usually it's enough to make a warning," comments the union leader. "The company usually agrees to the agreement."

But this did not happen on this occasion.

The striking mechanic, originally from Latvia, started working with the automaker in 2021. He asserts that wages and work terms were often subject to the discretion of supervisors.

He recalls an evaluation meeting where he states he was refused an annual pay rise because he was "failing to meet Tesla's goals". Meanwhile, a colleague was reported to have been rejected for increased compensation because he had the "wrong attitude".

However, not everyone went out in the industrial action. Tesla employed approximately 130 technicians working at the time the industrial action was initiated. IF Metall says that today approximately 70 of its members are on strike.

The automaker has long since replaced these with new workers, for which that has no precedent since the era of the Great Depression.

"The company has done it [found replacement staff] publicly and systematically," states a labor researcher, an analyst at a research institute, a think tank supported by Scandinavian labor organizations.

"It's not against the law, which is important to understand. However it goes against all traditional practices. But the company shows no concern about norms.

"They aim to be norm breakers. Thus when anyone informs them, hey, you are breaking a norm, they see that as a compliment."

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

In fact, the company has given just a single press discussion during the entire period after the industrial action started.

In March 2024, the local division's "national manager, Jens Stark, told a business paper that it benefited the organization more to avoid a union contract, and rather "to collaborate directly with the team and provide them the best possible terms".

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

The union is not entirely alone in its fight. This industrial action has received backing from several of labor organizations.

Port workers in nearby Scandinavian nations, Norway & neighboring states, decline to handle the company's vehicles; rubbish is no longer collected from Tesla's Scandinavian locations; and recently constructed charging stations are not being connected to power networks in the country.

Exists one such facility near the capital's airport, where twenty chargers remain unused. However a Tesla enthusiast, the president of an owner's club the Swedish Tesla association, says Tesla owners remain unaffected by the labor dispute.

"There's an alternative power point 10km from here," he comments. "Plus we are able to continue to buy our cars, we can service our vehicles, we can power our electric cars."

With stakes significant on both sides, it's hard to envision a resolution to the stand-off. IF Metall faces the danger of setting a precedent if it concedes the principle of collective agreement.

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