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In Sweden, approximately 70 automotive mechanics persist to confront one of the world's richest companies – Tesla. This labor strike targeting the American carmaker's 10 Swedish repair facilities has now entered its second anniversary, with little indication for a settlement.

One striking worker has remained on the electric car company's protest line since the autumn of 2023.

"It's a difficult period," remarks the 39-year-old. And as the nation's cold seasonal conditions sets in, it's likely to become more challenging.

The mechanic devotes each Monday alongside a colleague, positioned outside an electric vehicle service center on a business district located in southern Sweden. His union, the Swedish metalworkers' union, supplies accommodation in the form of a mobile construction vehicle, plus coffee & sandwiches.

But it remains operations continue normally nearby, at which the service facility seems to be at full capacity.

This industrial action concerns an issue that reaches to the core of Swedish industrial culture – the authority for worker organizations to bargain for pay and working terms representing their workforce. This principle of negotiated labor contracts has underpinned labor dynamics in Sweden for nearly a century.

Today some seventy percent of Scandinavia's employees are members to labor organizations, and 90% fall under under negotiated labor contracts. Strikes across the nation occur infrequently.

It's a system welcomed across the board. "We prefer the ability to bargain freely with the unions and sign labor contracts," states a business representative of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise business organization.

However Tesla has disrupted established practices. Outspoken CEO Elon Musk has stated he "disagrees" with the idea of labor organizations. "I simply don't like anything which creates a sort of lords and peasants sort of thing," he told listeners at an event last year. "I think the unions try to generate negativity in a company."

The automaker entered Sweden back in 2014, while the metalworkers' union has for years sought to establish a labor contract with the company.

"But they did not respond," says Marie Nilsson, the union's president. "And we got the impression that they attempted to avoid or evade discussing this with our representatives."

She states the union ultimately found no alternative than to call industrial action, beginning in late October, last year. "Usually it's enough to issue a warning," says Ms Nilsson. "Employers usually signs the agreement."

However not in this case.

Janis Kuzma, originally of Latvian origin, began employment for Tesla several years ago. He claims that wages & conditions were often dependent on the discretion of supervisors.

He recalls an evaluation meeting at which he states he was refused a salary increase on grounds that he "not reaching company targets". Meanwhile, a coworker was said to have been rejected for a pay rise because he had an "inappropriate demeanor".

Nevertheless, not everyone went out in the industrial action. Tesla had some one hundred thirty mechanics employed at the time the industrial action was called. The union says that today approximately 70 of its members are on strike.

The automaker has since substituted the striking workers with new workers, a situation that has not occurred since the era of the 1930s.

"Tesla has accomplished this [found replacement staff] openly and methodically," states a labor researcher, a researcher at Arena Idé, a policy organization financed by Swedish trade unions.

"It is not against the law, this being crucial to understand. But it violates all established norms. But Tesla shows no concern for conventions.

"They aim to be norm breakers. So if somebody tells them, hey, you are breaking a norm, they see that as praise."

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

Indeed, the automaker has given just a single media interview in the two years after the industrial action started.

In March 2024, the Swedish subsidiary's "country lead", the executive, informed a business paper that it benefited the company more to avoid a collective agreement, and instead "to work closely with employees and provide them optimal terms".

Mr Stark rejected that the decision not to enter a labor contract was determined at Tesla headquarters in the US. "Our division possesses authorization to take independent such decisions," he said.

IF Metall is not completely isolated in its fight. The strike has received backing by a number of other unions.

Dockworkers in neighbouring Scandinavian nations, Nordic countries & Finland, are refusing to handle the company's vehicles; rubbish is not collected from Tesla's Scandinavian locations; while recently constructed charging stations remain linked to the grid in the country.

Exists one such facility near Stockholm Arlanda Airport, at which twenty chargers remain unused. However Tibor Blomhäll, the leader of enthusiasts group the Swedish Tesla association, states vehicle owners remain unaffected by the labor dispute.

"There exists another charging station six miles from this location," he comments. "Plus we are able to still purchase vehicles, we can maintain our vehicles, we can power our electric cars."

With stakes high on both sides, it is difficult to see an end to the stand-off. The union risks setting a precedent should it surrender the fundamental concept of collective agreement.

"The concern is that this could expand," states Mr Bender, "and eventually {erode