Danish union to take motion in opposition to Tesla in solidarity with Swedes demanding collective bargaining

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The labor battle in opposition to Tesla in Sweden is spreading to neighboring Denmark the place transport employees with the nation’s largest commerce union mentioned Tuesday they may take motion in solidarity with Swedish employees in opposition to the Texas-based automaker.

Tesla is non-unionized globally, however the Swedish employees are demanding that the carmaker signal a collective bargaining settlement, which most workers in Sweden have. Tesla has no manufacturing plant in Sweden however has a number of service facilities.

The United Federation of Workers in Denmark, identified in Danish as 3F, mentioned there had been hypothesis that Tesla would ship its vehicles to Danish ports and transport them on vehicles to Sweden after Swedish dock employees blocked the reception of Tesla vehicles there.

“Concretely, this means that dock workers and drivers will not receive and transport Tesla’s cars going to Sweden,” 3F mentioned in a press release. “With the sympathy action, that model is no longer possible.”

Jakob Lykke, native head of 3F Transport in Esbjerg, on Denmark’s west coast, instructed the regional Jydske Vestkysten every day that Denmark’s fifth largest city is the one harbor via which Tesla vehicles arrive by ship.

“So as of Dec. 20, we will not drive their cars off board, as we usually do,” Lykke instructed the every day. It doubtless may also have an effect on the Danish market.

The head of 3F, Jan Villadsen, mentioned that it was “putting further pressure on Tesla. We naturally hope that they will come to the negotiating table as soon as possible and sign an agreement.″

″Although you are one of the richest people in the world, you can’t just make your own rules. We have some agreements on the labor market in the Nordics, and you have to comply with them if you want to do business here,” Villadsen mentioned.

On Oct. 27, 130 members of Sweden‘s powerful metalworkers’ union IF Metall walked out at seven workshops throughout the nation the place the favored electrical vehicles are serviced, demanding a collective bargaining settlement.

Swedish mechanics stopped servicing Tesla vehicles and a number of other unions, together with postal employees, have joined in a wave of solidarity with IF Metall’s calls for. Dockworkers at Sweden’s 4 largest ports additionally stopped the supply of Tesla automobiles to place extra strain on the automaker.

Last month, Tesla filed a lawsuit in opposition to the Swedish state through Sweden’s Transport Agency when postal employees within the Scandinavian nation halted the supply of license plates of latest automobiles manufactured by the Texas-based automaker.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote on X, previously Twitter, the social media platform he owns, that it was “insane” that Swedish postal employees had been refusing to ship license plates for brand new automobiles.