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Across Sweden, approximately seventy automotive mechanics continue to challenge one of the world's richest companies – Tesla. The labor strike targeting the American automaker's 10 Swedish service centers has now entered its second anniversary, and there is little sign of a resolution.

One striking worker has remained at the electric car company's picket line starting from October 2023.

"It's a tough time," remarks the 39-year-old. With the nation's chilly winter weather arrives, it is expected to grow more challenging.

The mechanic devotes every start of the week with a fellow worker, positioned near a Tesla garage on an industrial park in Malmö. The labor organization, the Swedish metalworkers' union, provides shelter via a portable builders' van, as well as hot beverages and sandwiches.

But it's business as usual nearby, at which the service facility seems to operate at full capacity.

The strike involves an issue that goes to the heart of Swedish labor traditions – the authority for worker organizations to bargain for wages & working terms on behalf of their members. This principle of collective agreement has supported labor dynamics in Sweden for almost a century.

Currently some 70% of Scandinavia's employees belong to labor organizations, while 90% fall under by a collective agreement. Strikes across the nation occur infrequently.

It's a system welcomed by all parties. "We prefer the right to bargain freely with the unions and establish collective agreements," states Mattias Dahl from the Association of Swedish Enterprise employer group.

However Tesla has disrupted the apple cart. Vocal chief executive Elon Musk has said he "opposes" with the idea of labor organizations. "I just disapprove of any arrangement which creates a sort of hierarchical situation," he told listeners at an event in 2023. "I think the unions attempt to create conflict in a company."

The automaker entered the Scandinavian market starting in the mid-2010s, and IF Metall has for years wanted to establish a labor contract with the company.

"Yet they did not respond," states Marie Nilsson, the union's president. "And we got the impression that they attempted to avoid or not discuss the matter with our representatives."

She says the union eventually found no other option than to call a strike, which started in late October, 2023. "Typically the threat suffices to make a warning," says Ms Nilsson. "The company typically agrees to the agreement."

But this did not happen on this occasion.

The striking mechanic, who is of Latvian origin, began employment for Tesla several years ago. He asserts that wages & work terms were often subject to the discretion of supervisors.

He recalls a performance review at which he states he was denied a salary increase because he was "not reaching company targets". Meanwhile, a colleague was said to have been rejected for increased compensation due to he had an "inappropriate demeanor".

Nevertheless, not everyone went out on strike. The company employed approximately one hundred thirty mechanics employed when the industrial action was called. IF Metall states that today approximately seventy of their represented workers are participating in the action.

The automaker has long since replaced these with new workers, a situation that has not occurred since the era of the Great Depression.

"The company has done it [found replacement staff] publicly & systematically," states German Bender, a researcher at a research institute, a policy organization financed by Swedish trade unions.

"It's not illegal, which is crucial to understand. But it violates all established norms. Yet the company doesn't care for conventions.

"They want to be norm breakers. So if anyone informs them, hey, you are violating a standard, they see that as a compliment."

The automaker's local division declined requests for interview via correspondence mentioning "record vehicle shipments".

In fact, the company has given just a single press discussion during the entire period after the strike started.

Earlier this year, the Swedish subsidiary's "country lead", the executive, informed a financial publication that it benefited the organization better to avoid a collective agreement, and rather "to collaborate directly with employees and give workers optimal conditions".

Mr Stark rejected that the decision not to enter a labor contract was one made by US leadership in the US. "Our division possesses a mandate to make our own such decisions," he stated.

The union is not entirely alone in its fight. This industrial action has received backing from several of other unions.

Port workers in nearby Denmark, Norway and Finland, decline to handle the company's vehicles; waste is not removed from Tesla's Scandinavian locations; while recently constructed power points remain connected to the grid across the nation.

There is one such facility close to the capital's airport, at which 20 charging units stand idle. But a Tesla enthusiast, the president of enthusiasts group the Swedish Tesla association, states Tesla owners remain unaffected by the labor dispute.

"There's another charging station six miles from here," he comments. "And we can still purchase vehicles, we can service our cars, we can power our cars."

With stakes significant for all parties, it is difficult to see an end to the deadlock. The union faces the danger of setting a precedent if it concedes the fundamental concept of negotiated labor contracts.

"The concern is that this could expand," states the researcher, "and eventually {erode