this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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The labor dispute over Tesla's refusal to sign a collective wage agreement in Sweden has escalated into a dramatic labor battle.

Unions representing multiple industries announced this week that they would join the strike in solidarity with IF Metall, the Tesla mechanics' trade union.

The standoff started in late October with a walkout led by IF Metall.

In Sweden, which doesn't have minimum wage legislation for workers, about 90% of employees are covered by collective agreements involving unions and employers.

IF Metall describes the agreements as "the backbone of the Swedish model" and said it's been trying to negotiate one with Tesla for the last five years.

The union said Tesla wages are below the industry average in Sweden, and it wants to secure better pensions and insurance guarantees.

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[–] [email protected] 133 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Tesla’s refusal to sign a collective wage agreement

I'm sorry, what?

Arrogance, ignorance and hubris.

It's a typical story at this point. American company comes to Europe, doesn't do its research, doesn't know how these things work over here, management in the US refuses to adapt, few years down the line they fuck off with their tail between their legs.

Staggeringly incompetent.

[–] [email protected] 112 points 11 months ago (3 children)

The story of McDonalds in Denmark is a fun example of this if anyone wants to read. [1]

McDonalds decided not to follow the union agreement and thus set up its own pay levels and work rules instead. This was a departure, not just from what Danish companies did, but even from what other similar foreign companies did. For example, Burger King, which is identical to McDonalds in all relevant respects, decided to follow the union agreement when it came to Denmark a few years earlier.

In late 1988 and early 1989, the unions decided enough was enough and called sympathy strikes in adjacent industries in order to cripple McDonalds operations. Sixteen different sector unions participated in the sympathy strikes.

Dockworkers refused to unload containers that had McDonalds equipment in them. Printers refused to supply printed materials to the stores, such as menus and cups. Construction workers refused to build McDonalds stores and even stopped construction on a store that was already in progress but not yet complete. The typographers union refused to place McDonalds advertisements in publications, which eliminated the company’s print advertisement presence. Truckers refused to deliver food and beer to McDonalds. Food and beverage workers that worked at facilities that prepared food for the stores refused to work on McDonalds products.

Once the sympathy strikes got going, McDonalds folded pretty quickly and decided to start following the hotel and restaurant agreement in 1989.

This is why McDonalds workers in Denmark are paid $22 per hour.

[1] https://mattbruenig.com/2021/09/20/when-mcdonalds-came-to-denmark/

[–] [email protected] 34 points 11 months ago

Just for the record: McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, KFC and Starbucks all have collective agreements in Denmark.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Once the sympathy strikes got going, McDonalds folded pretty quickly and decided to start following the hotel and restaurant agreement in 1989.

As fucking usual, the companies could have done this all along. They're just going to give the least, while charging the most.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

And even still, that $22 is vastly beneath the actual value of the labor provided.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah, in countries that never had prohibition, they take a different view of alcohol. Mainly one that isn't restrictive.

[–] [email protected] 73 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Tinfoil hat time: they do know. They are attempting to normalize the U.S. model in Europe to drive down labor costs.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I fully believe this. Tesla has absolutely abysmal labor practices.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Everything musk touches. Why else does SpaceX have eight times the injury rate of other rocket companies?

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Reality check: others have tried. Others have failed.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, Europeans aren't as stupid as Americans in this regard.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

...and this is why conservatives in the UK pushed for Brexit

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Britain has been living in our shadow ever since they lost the war.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Had that happen when working for Symantec in Argentina. They wouldn't do cost of living adjustments to account for the 30% inflation so the government forced a union on us. All they asked for was to give us the same salary, accommodating for inflation--in the end, this comes to the same dollar amount per employee. As best I can tell, the business bros couldn't understand inflation and exchange rates and they decided to simply lay off several hundred people and close their offices in the county entirely. Little did they know that you can't do that in Argentina and pretty much every single person sued, myself included, and won two year's salary, minus lawyer fees. If they had simply kept paying the same number of dollars to everyone, they'd have saved tens of millions of dollars.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And kept their business operations running

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Apparently they opened a new set of offices in Poland specifically because there are weak worker protections. My lawyer said he wouldn’t want to be an employer in Argentina because it’s so strict.