Danish dockworkers are joining in sympathy strikes with Swedish mechanics against
Tesla,
threatening to create more disruptions to the electric vehicle maker’s supply lines.
It hasn’t impacted Tesla stock yet but the situation is a watch item for investors.
The 3F Transport union in Denmark said Tuesday that it will start a sympathy strike in two weeks. The effect is that Tesla won’t be able to deliver cars to Danish ports and then distribute them via trucks to Sweden. Other unions in Sweden and Norway, including the postal workers delivering Tesla license plates, also initiated sympathy strikes.
The dispute between about 130 mechanics in Sweden and Tesla is about six-weeks old and isn’t necessarily over specific demands regarding pay and working conditions. Rather, it’s about the mechanics’ right to engage in collective negotiating.
Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, said last week that he disagrees with the “idea of unions” and that the strike is “insane.”
“I think unions naturally try to create negativity in a company and create a sort of lords and peasants situation,” said Musk in a recent interview at a New York Times event. He prefers a situation where everyone “eats at the same table,” where workers and managers are in alignment. To that point, Musk said that many line workers at Tesla get stock-based compensation and several have become millionaires through their Tesla holdings.
“Even if you are one of the richest people in the world, you can’t just make your own rules,” said 3F Chairman Jan Villadsen in a statement Tuesday. “Solidarity is the cornerstone of the trade union movement and extends across national borders.”
Marie Nilsson, the head of the IF Metall union seeking to represent the Tesla mechanics, said that the entire model of Sweden’s economy is at stake if Musk refuses to engage with unions.
While the disruptions for Tesla have been muted so far–Sweden is a small market for the cars–it could quickly become more serious if the strikes spread to Germany. Germany is the home of one of Tesla’s biggest factories as well as the largest car market in Europe.
Some of Tesla’s workers at its German manufacturing plant have joined the IG Metall union which represents workers in several manufacturing industries. Labor unions in Germany work differently than they do in the U.S.
Exactly how disruption would unfold in German is hard to say. Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The European labor situation hasn’t impacted Tesla stock. Coming into Tuesday’s trading, shares are up about 7% over the past month while the
S&P 500
and
Nasdaq Composite
were both up about 5%. Tesla shares traded 0.6% lower at $234.15 in premarket trading Tuesday. Nasdaq Composite futures were down 0.6% as well.
Write to Brian Swint at [email protected] and Al Root at [email protected]
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