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Swedish union declares strike for Tesla employees
- kensai 3y agoWell, let's hope it brings something. IIRC there was turmoil with the German union as well. How many facilities has Tesla in Sweden though?
- Pirate-of-SV 3y ago120 auto mechanics employed in the 9 Tesla service centers are affected.
- zegl 3y agoTM Sweden AB had a reported 289 employees in 2022, at 10 different facilities.
- edgyquant 3y agoThis doesn’t really give any examples of what working conditions are bad at Tesla that are causing the strike
- londons_explore 3y agoI think there are no specific grievances - the grievance is because there isn't a collective agreement in place. I would guess hardly any employees will strike, because a collective agreement would probably not involve any stock options/RSU's at all.
- Tryk 3y agoCollective agreement is a floor. It is a contract which guarantees lower bounds on wages, vacation days, notice periods etc. There is nothing preventing a company from going beyond the collective agreement to provide additional benefits to their employees. For instance, Sweden does not have a minimum wage. Instead we have collective agreements which stipulate these issues.
- adventured 3y agoSo why doesn't Sweden simplify their labor market by figuring out a reasonable lower boundary on collective agreements and installing a minimum wage? That seems particularly backwards on their part as a system failure. It would simplify their economy, remove inefficiency and benefit everyone - the sole possible arguments against it would require one being in favor of inefficient bureaucracy or abusing workers with lower wages. If you install a reasonable minimum wage, it increases the freedom in the labor market by reducing the chains of collective agreements. It gives employees more options, flexibility, and power of self determination which can only be to their benefit.
- alphager 3y agoThere's no reasonable minimum wage. A minimum wage that would be appropriate for restaurants is nonsensical for electricians. The swedish model basically sets minimum wage by sector. Much more tailored to the employers and employees.
- AnthonyMouse 3y ago
- artembugara 3y agoWhen McDonald's came to Denmark: https://mattbruenig.com/2021/09/20/when-mcdonalds-came-to-denmark/ https://mattbruenig.com/2021/09/20/when-mcdonalds-came-to-de...
- tyingq 3y agoThe "sympathy strikes" where other workers (dock workers, etc) pitched in seemed to be the killer for McDonalds. I wonder if that will happen to Tesla also.
- diggan 3y agoDoesn't seem to be out of the question. Last time a sympathy strike seems to have happened/about to happen, was when the union for electricians (Svenska Elektrikerförbundet) noticed about incoming strikes in order to help painters (Målareförbundet) to negotiate in 16th of May 2023 - https://www.sef.se/om-oss/nyheter/2023/elektrikerna-varslar-om-sympatistrejk-for-malarna/ https://www.sef.se/om-oss/nyheter/2023/elektrikerna-varslar-... Solidarity is not yet dead it seems :)
- Cthulhu_ 3y ago> I wonder if that will happen to Tesla also. They're in the "fuck around" phase, it's up to them if they'll find out.
- whimsicalism 3y agoAre secondary strikes legal in Sweden?
- Moru 3y agoIf you mean sympathy strikes, then yes.
- drannex 3y agoI hope this spreads to the rest of their locations.
- hersko 3y agoWhy? From what i understand their employees are well compensated.
- tyingq 3y agoPay rate varies wildly by location of the restaurant, even within the same city/state/country. Edit: It does. Do a few job searches.
- threeseed 3y agoBecause unions are a counter-balance to the bargaining strength of employers. And history has shown that you get better outcomes not just for employees but the company and society as a whole. It's better these days but there is still a tendency to think of employees as mindless resources rather than assets.
- mgoetzke 3y agoAs long as the unions and people in it understand that companies still need to thrive and do not get bogged down by corruption themselves this is indeed true
- milesvp 3y agoI find the downvotes for the above post to be quite distateful. I see nothing wrong with it and historically simply disagreeing (or agreeing) with a post is a poor reason to vote. I will add an anecdote to this post. I was talking with a close friend of mine’s father who owned a contruction company. I was fairly anti union at the time, and I made some comment about unions assuming he’d be anti union as well. His response was that he loved unions. He had 2 different unions onsite, and said they both provided access to the best workers. He was happy to have the unions for his business. Now I realize that unions for him were acting like a filter, with the best construction workers likely being attracted to the higher pay and better conditions. But it was an interesting take on things for a young mind. I simply couldn’t fathom a world where a capitalist would embrace union activity.
- vincnetas 3y agoAs i understand this is current Motor industry agreement : https://www.ifmetall.se/globalassets/avdelningar/forbundskontoret/block/avtal2023/kollektivavtalet-ar-guld-vart---motorbranschen---engelska.pdf https://www.ifmetall.se/globalassets/avdelningar/forbundskon... From : https://www.ifmetall.se/medlem/kollektivavtal/ https://www.ifmetall.se/medlem/kollektivavtal/
- Tryk 3y agoIf Tesla refuses to sign a collective agreement with the labor unions I hope they leave the Swedish labor market. Refusing to sign a collective agreement is a completely tone-deaf approach to conducting a business in Sweden. For instance, Sweden does not have a legal minimum wage - this is all done by collective agreements. Nine out of ten employees work under a collective agreement.
- Waterluvian 3y agoThis is a very important distinction to be aware of. Thanks for sharing it. It's too easy to just perceive it as "American-style unions in Sweden."
- tokai 3y agoAmerican union are bad in a very particular way. While unions in other countries can have issues, Americans can safely assume that they cannot map their experience with unions to other countries.
- chollida1 3y ago> American union are bad in a very particular way. Can you expand here?
- justrealist 3y agoAmerican unions have an incredibly adversarial relationship with their employers in a way that European unions do not. (many) European unions are collaborative with their employers and act like they fundamentally want to help the business grow so there's more to share. American unions, even when they are not outright corrupt mafia-eque organizations (ie, longshoresmen), are purely extractive.
- TylerE 3y agoI would argue you are correct in fact, but wrong in detail. The European unions were absolutely ball busters and they won. That’s why they’re not adversarial, they don’t need to be. Employers who don’t go along find them self with no labor force.
- INTPenis 3y agoI work in IT, so I'm in swedish IT union "Unionen", and my co-workers often say "what's the point of unions?". They are spoiled. This is the point of unions!
- endisneigh 3y agoI don’t understand - what is “this”?
- Zetobal 3y agoThis.
- gbanfalvi 3y agoI’m guessing “this” is the ability to collectively bargain if conditions aren’t good or, in this case, if you don’t have the ability to collectively bargain.
- endisneigh 3y agoThat’s what I thought but then I don’t get it in the context of the parent. Their teammates are spoiled because they’re not bargaining, to what end? Needs more context I think. I would expect this to be some justification or benefit present in the article.
- rychco 3y agoThe context is that their teammates' working conditions are so good (as a result of union participation in collective bargaining) that they've become spoiled & forgotten how it got that way to begin with.
- Moru 3y agoMostly because they are too young and don't know better. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears spilled before we got to this stage.
- cupofjoakim 3y agoIn the swedish version of this article they listed what the collective agreement would mean Translated: This is what the employees of tesla does not have compared to if they had a collective agreement: - A complete insurance package with Fora - The comprehensive adjustment support found in the main agreement between the social partners - Salaries are lower compared to the average in the motor industry agreement - Without the collective agreement no yearly raises are guaranteed - No possibility of part time retirement - They also do not have reduced working hours Original: Detta har inte de anställda på Tesla jämfört med om de hade kollektivavtal - Ett komplett paket med försäkringar hos Fora - Det omfattande omställningsstöd som finns i huvudavtalet mellan arbetsmarknadens parter - Lönerna ligger lägre än genomsnittet i Motorbranschavtalet - Utan kollektivavtal garanteras inte årliga löneökningar - De har inte möjlighet till deltidspension - De har inte heller arbetstidsförkortning As many others have pointed out, these agreements are fundamental to the swedish labor market. While it's not as common in tech, industries like car manufacturing are almost completely covered.
- Moru 3y agoA straight translation without explaining the words is dangerous. For example Reduced working hours does not mean what it sounds like.
- thelastgallon 3y agoMeanwhile, in the US, train workers are banned from strike for horrible work conditions and no paid sick leave.
- engineer_22 3y agoThe way Biden administration treated rail workers was criminal
- 3445675 3y agoAnti Musk news is automatically valid Hacker News content
- isodev 3y agoOnly when <Musk company> does something to detract from the future humans want for themselves.
- wil421 3y agoHe doesn’t seem to help his situation and actively tries to argue with opposing thoughts/people and he does it very publicly. Space X is an exception in my opinion and Space X + Musk articles usually don’t go down this path, at least not as often or as deep.
- archagon 3y agoYou made a sockpuppet just to leave this comment? Thanks for being a productive member of this community, I guess.
- Liam2010 3y ago[dead]