4 ms·

I read on HN a week or so ago that the majority of workers at the swedish Tesla factory aren't striking because they prefer the stock options offered by Tesla t

I read on HN a week or so ago that the majority of workers at the swedish Tesla factory aren't striking because they prefer the stock options offered by Tesla to what the union is offering. But apparently the company offering a more attractive deal than the union is considered "union busting" or something. Sweden sounds weird.

apelapan 3y ago
The unions are not "offering" any alternative compensation to the workers, than what Tesla are. There are certain minimums in a collective bargaining agreement, with regard to salary and insurance cover, but as far as I know Tesla at least mostly meets that minimum standard. What conflict is mostly about, and which a large proportion of the workers don't care about (at Tesla and elsewhere for that matter) is a mutually binding framework for how terms of employment are negotiated. Tesla (obviously) prefer to retain the possibility to dictate all terms unilaterally, the unions want the worker collective to have a say and the possibility to negotiate. It is a very basic, classic and boring conflict in that sense. The Swedish model for labour relations is mostly working quite well, both now and for the past 100 years. It works well enough that 90+% of people have no idea about what it is the unions do. In order for the model to work it needs a large part of businesses/unions to participate. What we are seeing now is an interesting test of the conflict escalation toolbox. I'm not at all sure how it will end. If the unions fail, it might be the start of a general move to a US-style "everyone-fends-for-themselves" labour market, with minimum wages etc regulated by law. (Sweden does not have a minimum wage by law, for example).
- mcpackieh 3y ago
  The Swedish model works so well that the majority of Telsa workers in Sweden aren't striking... If they did they'd bring Tesla to the negotiating table in an instant because there would be no way for Tesla to continue doing business otherwise. They'd have a choice between negotiate with the unions or have empty factories with no workers, which is no choice at all.
  - matsemann 3y ago
    The workers don't strike because they've been threatened to lose their stock options if they do. Aka blackmail. Hence why other workers strike for them.
  - fastasucan 3y ago
    >The Swedish model works so well that the majority of Telsa workers in Sweden aren't striking... Strikes isn't organized as a per company basis, so this doesn't make any sense at all.
  - apelapan 3y ago
    To evaluate the model, you need to look at millions of people over multiple decades. How well the model works (or doesn't) has no bearing on the enthusiasm for striking at a particular workplace. As I wrote in my comment, it is not surprising at all that there is meagre participation from Tesla employees. The conflict is not between the employees and their managers. The conflict is between the Tesla enterprise and a handful of national labour organizations. (There could very well be tangible upsides for Tesla employees, if the unions succeed. Or maybe none. It is not really relevant and I am not familiar with the details).
fastasucan 3y ago
I think you should try to be more critical of what you read, the union isn't offering any deals to the workers.
- mcpackieh 3y ago
  They probably should try that then.

apelapan 3y ago

The unions are not "offering" any alternative compensation to the workers, than what Tesla are. There are certain minimums in a collective bargaining agreement, with regard to salary and insurance cover, but as far as I know Tesla at least mostly meets that minimum standard. What conflict is mostly about, and which a large proportion of the workers don't care about (at Tesla and elsewhere for that matter) is a mutually binding framework for how terms of employment are negotiated. Tesla (obviously) prefer to retain the possibility to dictate all terms unilaterally, the unions want the worker collective to have a say and the possibility to negotiate. It is a very basic, classic and boring conflict in that sense. The Swedish model for labour relations is mostly working quite well, both now and for the past 100 years. It works well enough that 90+% of people have no idea about what it is the unions do. In order for the model to work it needs a large part of businesses/unions to participate. What we are seeing now is an interesting test of the conflict escalation toolbox. I'm not at all sure how it will end. If the unions fail, it might be the start of a general move to a US-style "everyone-fends-for-themselves" labour market, with minimum wages etc regulated by law. (Sweden does not have a minimum wage by law, for example).

mcpackieh 3y ago
The Swedish model works so well that the majority of Telsa workers in Sweden aren't striking... If they did they'd bring Tesla to the negotiating table in an instant because there would be no way for Tesla to continue doing business otherwise. They'd have a choice between negotiate with the unions or have empty factories with no workers, which is no choice at all.
- matsemann 3y ago
  The workers don't strike because they've been threatened to lose their stock options if they do. Aka blackmail. Hence why other workers strike for them.
- fastasucan 3y ago
  >The Swedish model works so well that the majority of Telsa workers in Sweden aren't striking... Strikes isn't organized as a per company basis, so this doesn't make any sense at all.
- apelapan 3y ago
  To evaluate the model, you need to look at millions of people over multiple decades. How well the model works (or doesn't) has no bearing on the enthusiasm for striking at a particular workplace. As I wrote in my comment, it is not surprising at all that there is meagre participation from Tesla employees. The conflict is not between the employees and their managers. The conflict is between the Tesla enterprise and a handful of national labour organizations. (There could very well be tangible upsides for Tesla employees, if the unions succeed. Or maybe none. It is not really relevant and I am not familiar with the details).

fastasucan 3y ago

I think you should try to be more critical of what you read, the union isn't offering any deals to the workers.

mcpackieh 3y ago
They probably should try that then.