Tesla's problems in Sweden are getting worse as dockworkers refuse to unload its EVs from ships

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 489 points – Tesla's problems in Sweden are getting worse as dockworkers refuse to unload its EVs from ships
businessinsider.com

The labor dispute over Tesla's refusal to sign a collective wage agreement in Sweden has escalated into a dramatic labor battle.

Unions representing multiple industries announced this week that they would join the strike in solidarity with IF Metall, the Tesla mechanics' trade union.

The standoff started in late October with a walkout led by IF Metall.

In Sweden, which doesn't have minimum wage legislation for workers, about 90% of employees are covered by collective agreements involving unions and employers.

IF Metall describes the agreements as "the backbone of the Swedish model" and said it's been trying to negotiate one with Tesla for the last five years.

The union said Tesla wages are below the industry average in Sweden, and it wants to secure better pensions and insurance guarantees.

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The story of McDonalds in Denmark is a fun example of this if anyone wants to read. [1]

McDonalds decided not to follow the union agreement and thus set up its own pay levels and work rules instead. This was a departure, not just from what Danish companies did, but even from what other similar foreign companies did. For example, Burger King, which is identical to McDonalds in all relevant respects, decided to follow the union agreement when it came to Denmark a few years earlier.

In late 1988 and early 1989, the unions decided enough was enough and called sympathy strikes in adjacent industries in order to cripple McDonalds operations. Sixteen different sector unions participated in the sympathy strikes.

Dockworkers refused to unload containers that had McDonalds equipment in them. Printers refused to supply printed materials to the stores, such as menus and cups. Construction workers refused to build McDonalds stores and even stopped construction on a store that was already in progress but not yet complete. The typographers union refused to place McDonalds advertisements in publications, which eliminated the company’s print advertisement presence. Truckers refused to deliver food and beer to McDonalds. Food and beverage workers that worked at facilities that prepared food for the stores refused to work on McDonalds products.

Once the sympathy strikes got going, McDonalds folded pretty quickly and decided to start following the hotel and restaurant agreement in 1989.

This is why McDonalds workers in Denmark are paid $22 per hour.

[1] https://mattbruenig.com/2021/09/20/when-mcdonalds-came-to-denmark/

Just for the record: McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, KFC and Starbucks all have collective agreements in Denmark.

Once the sympathy strikes got going, McDonalds folded pretty quickly and decided to start following the hotel and restaurant agreement in 1989.

As fucking usual, the companies could have done this all along. They're just going to give the least, while charging the most.

And even still, that $22 is vastly beneath the actual value of the labor provided.

....Beer?

Yeah, in countries that never had prohibition, they take a different view of alcohol. Mainly one that isn't restrictive.