Tesla is currently facing a challenging situation in Sweden.
Sweden has no minimum wage law. Therefore, 90 percent of the nation’s employees rely on collective bargaining agreements to guarantee wages. Workers at seven of Tesla’s Swedish repair shops have formed a collective bargaining agreement, but Tesla is refusing to sign it.
As a result, Tesla’s Swedish employees have been on strike since October 27.
This has led to other unions in the country showing solidarity by not working with Tesla until it resolves the matter with its own workers. Consequently, Tesla has resorted to legal action.
According to Jalopnik, Tesla filed two lawsuits against the Swedish Transport Agency (STA) on Monday due to undelivered license plates. Tesla won its lawsuits later in the same day.
The STA has a contract with a union shop for mail delivery, but those workers have refused to deliver for Tesla. Consequently, Tesla’s cars are unable to be registered.
The STA typically uses the state-run company PostNord for mail delivery. PostNord’s workers are also in solidarity with the striking Tesla mechanics.
When summoned to court regarding the undelivered plates, the STA argued that their contract with PostNord prevents them from using alternate delivery methods. However, the court wasn’t satisfied with this explanation. The court ruled that the government was illegally aiding the striking workers.
As a result, the STA has until December 4 to provide Tesla with the missing license plates. If it doesn’t, the company must pay 1 million krona in fines (roughly $95,000 US).
As Tesla wins its suit against the Swedish government, it’s experiencing a mix of wins and losses in its US labor disputes.
Last Friday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) dismissed a complaint asserting that Tesla had fired employees for attempting to form a union. However, the NLRB also found that Tesla unlawfully attempted to influence its workers to oppose unionization.
