Swedish workers keep up the fight against billionaire Elon Musk

Workers at Tesla in Sweden have been on strike since October 2023.

The company has been refusing to sign up to collective bargaining agreements which would give workers better pay and conditions.

Tesla is owned by Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet. He has a wealth of $210 billion. That’s more than double the Irish government spending for an entire year.

He is refusing to sign up to an agreement on principle as part of an anti-union policy. The workers and their union are determined to continue the strike.
There is no legal minimum wage in Sweden and most rights for workers are negotiated through collective bargaining agreements. When a large company like Tesla refuses to sign a deal it’s a direct attack on the very basic workers’ rights.

This is why this is now the longest running strike in Sweden since 1945.

About 130 workers at Tesla’s service and sales hubs began the strike in October. Since then a number of unions have taken solidarity actions such as dock workers refusing to load Tesla parts and postal workers refusing to deliver new licence plates to Tesla.

Dock workers in Norway, Denmark and Finland are also joining the solidarity movement and refusing to load Tesla goods.

This is a really impressive show of solidarity and workers power across borders.

For socialists the issue of collective bargaining agreements is not straight forward. In this case where workers are being denied their rights the fight for a deal is important and should be given full support.

However, collective bargaining agreements often sign away the right of workers to take strike action for the duration of the agreement. This can limit the power of workers to fight against the bosses when issues arise in the workplace.

As the gap between rich and poor continue to increase, and the wealth of people like Elon Musk rise exponentially, workers everywhere should take inspiration from the Swedish Tesla workers and join the fight.