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This has gotten out of hand, and frankly everyone is a bad guy. Tesla is being innapropriately inflexible here; union labor is the rule in Europe and they're j

by ajross 3y ago

This has gotten out of hand, and frankly everyone is a bad guy. Tesla is being innapropriately inflexible here; union labor is the rule in Europe and they're just going to have to deal with that. On the other side, we have a bunch of other unions and a government-mandated monopoly (!!) being deployed against them over a single center with 130 jobs. This level of economic disruption is way out of range of what is reasonable for a union action. It's supposed to be for the benefit of the workers in question, and to be honest I don't think anyone's even covering them? The whole thing is a shitshow, and it's frankly embarrassing for Sweden from my perspective. I mean, if you were a C-suite executive looking to open a new office, and had to pick between Stockholm and Oslo or Helsinki, seems like an easy choice, no?

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> It's supposed to be for the benefit of the workers in question, and to be honest I don't think anyone's even covering them? The Nordics are a high-value EV market. It could be worth demonstrating resolve so the next group that hires these workers plays by the rules the local economy has evolved. The Swedish unions, for their part, see this fight as exisetnial to their economic model [1]. With which I agree. If they bend for Tesla, they'll have to for Amazon. [1] https://www.ft.com/content/99caf360-7c21-4251-9167-f08a8fa6c9f8 https://www.ft.com/content/99caf360-7c21-4251-9167-f08a8fa6c...
- ajross 3y ago
  > If they bend for Tesla, they'll have to for Amazon. I'm just going to go out on a limb and declare without evidence but with great certainty that Amazon employs VASTLY more than 130 workers in Sweden. This doesn't pass the smell test, sorry.
tokai 3y ago
Its not embarrassing for Sweden at all. Its how their labor market is organized. It's working exactly like it should.
wtfwhateven 3y ago
>way out of range of what is reasonable for a union action. It's not and it shouldn't be. If Tesla wasn't being "inflexible" then this wouldn't be happening. Their actions are unjustifiable and have continued for years. The only bad actor here is Tesla. Tesla just has to stop their abhorrent behaviour.
- s1artibartfast 3y ago
  I dont think it is really that clear. Tesla has willing workers. IF Metall's position is that Tesla has to work with and through them.
therouwboat 3y ago
It seems like Sweden doesnt want companies that pay low wages and dont want to follow rules.
- ajross 3y ago
  Are these 130 jobs low wage positions, though? That's exactly the coverage I'd want to see about this issue, and... it's not there. Look, if the 130 workers were striking in order to unionize, that would be one thing. But that doesn't seem to be the impetus at all.
  - yencabulator 3y ago
    Previous (US-based) reporting on this has explicitly said the Tesla workers were paid below average. I don't have the link handy anymore.
    - ajross 3y ago
      I really don't think that's correct. Here's the Reuters story on the subject, which is fairly representative: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/swedish-union-blocks-tesla-components-dispute-intensifies-2023-11-24/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/swedis... There are zero facts in that article sourced from or even about the 130 workers in question. All the quotes are from IF Metall, the broader union who doesn't represent the workers yet but wants to. Again, if the workers want to unionize Tesla should let them, period. That's the way it works in Europe and they need to play on the same field. But they don't seem to be asking! Instead IF Metall, other unions, and at this point the Swedish legal system are all going to the mattresses to compel a unionization agreement for workers who aren't even part of the discussion. And that's batshit.

by ajross 3y ago

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> It's supposed to be for the benefit of the workers in question, and to be honest I don't think anyone's even covering them? The Nordics are a high-value EV market. It could be worth demonstrating resolve so the next group that hires these workers plays by the rules the local economy has evolved. The Swedish unions, for their part, see this fight as exisetnial to their economic model [1]. With which I agree. If they bend for Tesla, they'll have to for Amazon. [1] https://www.ft.com/content/99caf360-7c21-4251-9167-f08a8fa6c9f8 https://www.ft.com/content/99caf360-7c21-4251-9167-f08a8fa6c...

ajross 3y ago
> If they bend for Tesla, they'll have to for Amazon. I'm just going to go out on a limb and declare without evidence but with great certainty that Amazon employs VASTLY more than 130 workers in Sweden. This doesn't pass the smell test, sorry.

tokai 3y ago

Its not embarrassing for Sweden at all. Its how their labor market is organized. It's working exactly like it should.

wtfwhateven 3y ago

>way out of range of what is reasonable for a union action. It's not and it shouldn't be. If Tesla wasn't being "inflexible" then this wouldn't be happening. Their actions are unjustifiable and have continued for years. The only bad actor here is Tesla. Tesla just has to stop their abhorrent behaviour.

s1artibartfast 3y ago
I dont think it is really that clear. Tesla has willing workers. IF Metall's position is that Tesla has to work with and through them.

therouwboat 3y ago

It seems like Sweden doesnt want companies that pay low wages and dont want to follow rules.

ajross 3y ago
Are these 130 jobs low wage positions, though? That's exactly the coverage I'd want to see about this issue, and... it's not there. Look, if the 130 workers were striking in order to unionize, that would be one thing. But that doesn't seem to be the impetus at all.
- yencabulator 3y ago
  Previous (US-based) reporting on this has explicitly said the Tesla workers were paid below average. I don't have the link handy anymore.
  - ajross 3y ago
    I really don't think that's correct. Here's the Reuters story on the subject, which is fairly representative: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/swedish-union-blocks-tesla-components-dispute-intensifies-2023-11-24/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/swedis... There are zero facts in that article sourced from or even about the 130 workers in question. All the quotes are from IF Metall, the broader union who doesn't represent the workers yet but wants to. Again, if the workers want to unionize Tesla should let them, period. That's the way it works in Europe and they need to play on the same field. But they don't seem to be asking! Instead IF Metall, other unions, and at this point the Swedish legal system are all going to the mattresses to compel a unionization agreement for workers who aren't even part of the discussion. And that's batshit.