Michelle ThompsonUS automaker accuses workers of a “discriminatory attack” after strikes prevent new vehicles from being registered in Sweden.
After strike action stopped Tesla’s new cars from receiving license plates in Sweden, the US electric manufacturer is suing the Swedish transport agency, claiming it is engaged in a “discriminatory attack.”
The automaker and the union that represents Swedish Telsa employees, who have been on strike for five weeks and are demanding the right to collective bargaining, have been at odds over the course of the litigation.
Numerous secondary, or sympathetic, industrial actions have been initiated by unions representing other industries, including postal workers, dock workers, electricians, and painters, in response to the strike called by IF Metall, which has over 300,000 members in the Swedish industrial sector.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, called the postal agency PostNord’s subsequent action “insane” on Thursday after new Tesla cars were unable to receive license plates.
The automaker claimed in documents filed to the Norrköping district court on Monday that “this confiscation of license plates constitutes a discriminatory attack without any support in law directed against Tesla,” as reported by the Swedish financial publication Dagens Industri.
The automobile manufacturer filed a lawsuit, which the nation’s transport agency attested to.
According to a spokesman, Tesla feels that the Swedish Transport Agency is not providing registration plates to newly registered cars in Sweden as required. Since the Swedish Transport Agency does not agree with this viewpoint, Tesla has the right and has chosen to have the matter evaluated in court.
The agency has not yet seen the lawsuit, the official said, but “we need to look at the lawsuit and Tesla’s reasoning in it.” It makes sense that the district court will give the Swedish Transport Agency a voice in the matter, and as a result, our position on Tesla’s logic will be evident. After then, the district court may review the case.
Additionally, according to reports, Tesla has asked the district court to permit it to pick up the number plates from the manufacturer while the legal process is ongoing. According to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, this request was approved on Monday, allowing Tesla to pick up its license plates from the supplier. The Swedish Transport Agency will be fined one million kroner (£76,000) if they do not grant the request within seven days.
Senior IF Metall official Veli-Pekka Säikkälä stated: “We observe that Tesla has opted to initiate legal processes in order to take the long path. Signing a collective agreement is a quick and easy solution to resolve this dilemma. The fight ends when Tesla takes that action.
Under Swedish law, authorities are not allowed to take sides in disputes arising from the labor market. It is reasonable to believe that the Swedish Transport Agency will maintain its neutrality throughout the continuing dispute.
It is also known that TM Sweden, Tesla’s Swedish subsidiary, is suing PostNord for neglecting to deliver mail.
According to the postal service, as a “sympathy measure for IF Metall,” the union ST had blockaded mail deliveries from PostNord to TM Sweden. According to PostNord, the right to strike is “constitutionally protected and so strong that it can be considered force majeure.”
“Now that we’ve read the lawsuit, we need to form an understanding of its content and meaning,” a spokeswoman stated. Above all, PostNord is an impartial party to the dispute.
The battle for collective agreements, which address things like pay, benefits, working hours, and vacation time, is being described as the biggest effort in decades to protect Sweden’s union model from international labor standards. It has been compared to the Toys R Us strikes in 1995, which the Swedish unions prevailed in.
The Swedish global payment company Klarna has a collective agreement with its employees that forbids planned action at its Stockholm headquarters since the beginning of the Tesla strike. There have been suggestions from some observers that the carmaker’s strikes could reignite discussions about the matter at Spotify’s Swedish division.
The largest union in the Norwegian private sector, Fellesforbundet, has said that it will prevent Swedish Teslas from entering the nation.
