Tesla Unionization

[adiggs]

This conflict is left to the two parties involved to solve. The government doesn't interfere.

From my point of view, the government has already interfered by allowing a government function to be hijacked by the union, a private entity. The union called for the government to not satisfy a government function (mail delivery) to another private party, and the government has both complied, as well as gone to court to sustain their right to follow the union's direction to not provide service.

As I said - that's the part that blows my mind.

The rest of it - I have no real problem with the legality. At least where I live, garbage pickup is a monopoly for a private business with government oversight. That's not how it works everywhere. Were that to happen here - a government granted monopoly refusing to provide its service to some (anybody), that would be a serious problem and probably illegal, but I don't know anything about the details on how that works. But garbage pickup in my limited experience isn't directly a government function, so sympathy strike on that front is gray enough that it at least doesn't blow my mind.


I think its all silly, but successfully drafting the government into the argument on the union's side is either brilliant, or completely normal and expected. In the latter case its easy for me to see why there are few and only short duration strikes in the country.

 

[bpjod]

Not a juridical expert, but as I understand it, one difference here between Sweden and the US is that the right to strike is protected in the Swedish constitution – as are the right to enact various sympathy actions.

This conflict is left to the two parties involved to solve. The government doesn't interfere.

In Sweden, conflicts like this one are almost always solved long before they escalate this far.

How is a government service taking action against one of the parties in a labour dispute not government interference?

 

[2daMoon]

Not a juridical expert, but as I understand it, one difference here between Sweden and the US is that the right to strike is protected in the Swedish constitution – as are the right to enact various sympathy actions.

This conflict is left to the two parties involved to solve. The government doesn't interfere.

In Sweden, conflicts like this one are almost always solved long before they escalate this far.

Another difference is how the US government providing mail service is a stipulation of the US constitution, though the postal service was made quasi-private in its operation in order to be more economical than most other services run by the government.

It is a federal offense to tamper with the mail in the US. I must presume that it is not in Sweden, or, perhaps unions get a pass on being prosecuted when they do it.

 

[Zuikkis]

"Mail secret" is very well protected in the Nordics. It's very serious offense if you open someone else's mail. That is extended to electronic mail also.

But PostNord is not opening the letters, they just don't deliver them. The information needed for that process is printed on the outside of the letter, it's not a crime to read that.

And you could argue that they will deliver the mail eventually, it just seems to take very long. I'm not sure how it is in Sweden but in Finland Post promises that 99% of mail is delivered in under three days .. unfortunate for Tesla but they are in the 1%.

 

[Tiger]

"Mail secret" is very well protected in the Nordics. It's very serious offense if you open someone else's mail. That is extended to electronic mail also.

But PostNord is not opening the letters, they just don't deliver them. The information needed for that process is printed on the outside of the letter, it's not a crime to read that.

And you could argue that they will deliver the mail eventually, it just seems to take very long. I'm not sure how it is in Sweden but in Finland Post promises that 99% of mail is delivered in under three days .. unfortunate for Tesla but they are in the 1%.

That's what I mean, if the mail is addressed to Not-A-Tesla @ a-street-not-far-away-from-tesla (or even P.O.Box) they would be obligated to deliver.

 

[rlsd]

Two young students at a university in Sweden had written an essay about the Tesla community and its positivism, friendliness and their effort to help other community members.

https://x.com/NicklasNilsso14/status/1751909977571176497?s=20

 

[MP3Mike]

Most everything at least in Norway is handled electronically now

It seems like Tesla gets a lot of invoices and official registration documents via the mail:

However, Tesla is aware that, among other things, Tesla has not received shipments containing the following content:
• Invoices for vehicle tax
• Confirmation of vehicle de-registration
• Certificate of registration
• Invoices for congestion tax
• Specially adapted tools for Tesla vehicles
• Office supplies
• Technical components
• Parking fines
• Consumables for workshops
• IT equipment
• Shipments from attorney's fees
• Insurance letter
• Correspondence in debt collection matters
• Shipments from abroad (including speeding fines)
• Equipment to connect Tesla's Supercharger network to a grid
• Electric bills for Tesla's Supercharger network
• Decision regarding building permits for the construction of new Supercharger stations
• Invoices for the construction of new Supercharger stations

 

[2daMoon]

It does make one wonder how, say, a court order or other contractual and time-sensitive mail related problem would be dealt with by any court hearing a case against a party whose mail was intentionally held back by the carrier.

It is difficult to respond to a legal notice if the mail never arrives.

 

[johnnycnote]

It does make one wonder how, say, a court order or other contractual and time-sensitive mail related problem would be dealt with by any court hearing a case against a party whose mail was intentionally held back by the carrier.

It is difficult to respond to a legal notice if the mail never arrives.

Something tells me that those type of documents will arrive early...

 

[growler23]

Having watched for a while, I feel the need to summarize my impressions.
From the various updates I've seen here over the last month, it appears to me that Tesla is continuing to deliver vehicles in Sweden in numbers that are mostly unabated from what they would otherwise have delivered (without the union action).
The union action against them has added work (cleaning, disposing of trash, etc.), caused Tesla to open new shops to work around the union, and ship cars in from Berlin over land & bridge, adding to customer delay but (IMO) not necessarily reducing the yearly throughput of vehicles. One of the recent articles seemed to indicate one Tesla supercharger station would no longer be repaired, but that Tesla planned to open a new one to get around this. So again, a temporary problem but nothing permanent.
It appears to me that Tesla has, to this point, dodged all the major pitfalls laid by IF Metall and continues to operate at full volume or close to it, albeit with extra work and costs. It also appears to me that Tesla, by building "around" the roadblocks IF Metall has put in place, becomes less vulnerable over time in Sweden.
At this time, seems to me Tesla is "winning" if such can be said for either side in a conflict/contest like this, at least on the physical front. I am curious as to how they are doing on the "hearts and minds" front in Sweden; I see articles on both sides of this in this thread.
Other thoughts and information always welcome, particularly from our Scandi/wegian friends.

 

[heltok]

At this time, seems to me Tesla is "winning" if such can be said for either side in a conflict/contest like this, at least on the physical front. I am curious as to how they are doing on the "hearts and minds" front in Sweden; I see articles on both sides of this in this thread.
Other thoughts and information always welcome, particularly from our Scandi/wegian friends.

The public service in Sweden have been doing an active anti-Tesla campaign and lots of FUD. But I think it's about the same as in many other countries. Ask reddit(sweddit) and they will be massively against Elon, talking about pedo-tweet, blocking starlink in Ukraine etc. On Flashback it's getting more and more pro-Tesla, but it's an anti-mainstream-site so that's not too surprising. In general I think Tesla has become a bit more polarizing, which people who studied dating know is not necessarily a bad thing.

It should be noted that Polestar and Volvo are not doing great either with notices of layoffs. Northvolt had a few scandals with people dying, hundreds sleeping in barracks and are at 0.5% of production capacity. The government is going all in on H2 Green Steel and if that fails that will be a very expensive pet project and it's not like the government has a good track record on these kind of projects and there is the competition etc that is not sleeping either. H2 steel will demand tons of energy and Sweden shutting down functioning nuclear maybe wasn't the best strategy given the green steel strategy.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

The public news in Sweden [...

What's the "public news"?

I didn't know there was news that wasn't public...

 

[heltok]

What's the "public news"?

I didn't know there was news that wasn't public...

Hehe, a bit tired in the morning. The Union making more fool out of themselves. Too long article to copy, read it translated here:

IF Metalls förbundsjurist byggde karriären på en lögn

Darko Davidovic har byggt sin karriär på en juristutbildning han inte har. Han har också haft många sidouppdrag och bolagsaffärer som kan stå i strid med IF Metalls uppförandekod.

da-se.translate.goog

Darko Davidovic is IF Metall's top lawyer.

Dagens Arbete can show that, in addition to his job, he engaged in million-dollar deals and side missions - in some cases in conflict with his employment.

Now he is in the middle of a lawsuit and has ended up with the Crown Bailiff.

He has built his long career on an education he does not have.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

[Public Service Media] in Sweden have been doing an active anti-Tesla campaign and lots of FUD. [...

I completely disagree with regards to this opinion. They have done absolutely nothing of the sort. Swedish Public Service TV and Radio is not some opposite variant of Fox News or Newsmax. What exactly are they going to do? How many press releases have Tesla managed to come up with during this entire conflict? Two? Three? The entirety of Tesla Sweden has one giant ball gag stuffed in the pie hole. And Elon isn't exactly available for comment... But guess who is answering questions... Of course the Union answers questions – and thus the media coverage unfolds accordingly.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

Hehe, a bit tired in the morning. The Union making more fool out of themselves. Too long article to copy, read it translated here:

IF Metalls förbundsjurist byggde karriären på en lögn

Darko Davidovic har byggt sin karriär på en juristutbildning han inte har. Han har också haft många sidouppdrag och bolagsaffärer som kan stå i strid med IF Metalls uppförandekod.

da-se.translate.goog

Darko Davidovic is IF Metall's top lawyer.

Dagens Arbete can show that, in addition to his job, he engaged in million-dollar deals and side missions - in some cases in conflict with his employment.

Now he is in the middle of a lawsuit and has ended up with the Crown Bailiff.

He has built his long career on an education he does not have.

Can anyone guess what outlet broke that story? Ding! ding! ding! That's correct – the Union's own paper...

 

[2daMoon]

Can anyone guess what outlet broke that story? Ding! ding! ding! That's correct – the Union's own paper...

At least we know now that the overpriced magazine subscription provides.
/s

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

At least we know now that the overpriced magazine subscription provides.
/s

?

It's online and free.

 

[Zuikkis]

I completely disagree with regards to this opinion. They have done absolutely nothing of the sort. Swedish Public Service TV and Radio is not some opposite variant of Fox News or Newsmax. What exactly are they going to do? How many press releases have Tesla managed to come up with during this entire conflict? Two? Three? The entirety of Tesla Sweden has one giant ball gag stuffed in the pie hole. And Elon isn't exactly available for comment... But guess who is answering questions... Of course the Union answers questions – and thus the media coverage unfolds accordingly.

You are mostly correct. I don't think the media FUD is intentional. They are just being fed biased views from Reuters etc (and by Union PR?) and Tesla does nothing to give opposite view.

In actual "locally created" news Tesla is usually shown in quite good shape. If the journalists write the story themselves, they seem to like Tesla. Like the many winter car tests done in Norway, where Tesla has simply swiped the floor with other contestants. Same kind of test is currently going in Finnish car magazine Tekniikan Maailma, they are REALLY pushing the Model 3 Highland.. Tesla test driver decided to take most of his clothes off to show how warm the car is in winter.

Tekniikan Maailma

tekniikanmaailma.fi

Translated:

Tekniikan Maailma

tekniikanmaailma-fi.translate.goog

Then in comparison an article from Reuters, directly copied by Finnish media:

Tesla laski vaivihkaa useiden malliensa toimintamatka-arvioita EPA-sylkillä - syy pääteltävissä

Teslan on laskenut ainakin USA:n verkkosivuillaan ilmoitettuja toimintamatkoja Model S:n -X:n ja -Y:n osalta. Taustalla ovat mahdollisesti aiemmat syytökset toimintamatka-arvioiden pyöristämisestä ylöspäin. Suomen verkkosivuilla toimintamatkat näyttäisivät olevan entisellään.

moottori.fi

Translated:

Tesla laski vaivihkaa useiden malliensa toimintamatka-arvioita EPA-sylkillä - syy pääteltävissä

Teslan on laskenut ainakin USA:n verkkosivuillaan ilmoitettuja toimintamatkoja Model S:n -X:n ja -Y:n osalta. Taustalla ovat mahdollisesti aiemmat syytökset toimintamatka-arvioiden pyöristämisestä ylöspäin. Suomen verkkosivuilla toimintamatkat näyttäisivät olevan entisellään.

moottori-fi.translate.goog

They give the impression that changes in EPA ratings were because last year Reuters heroically documented Tesla range overestimation. Most of the readers here know that the change was simply because EPA changed their test cycle, but that's not mentioned at all in the article.. This is something I would call a "FUD article".

 

[swedish_anon]

Can anyone guess what outlet broke that story? Ding! ding! ding! That's correct – the Union's own paper...

I was happy to see that article. It is so rare to see a well researched story in the media today, and as you pointed out, it's the union's paper and that makes the article so much more valuable. That paper, and the people that work there, seem to take their journalistic mission the way it was intended. I wish more outlets did this.

 

[CitizenKane]

I completely disagree with regards to this opinion. They have done absolutely nothing of the sort. Swedish Public Service TV and Radio is not some opposite variant of Fox News or Newsmax. What exactly are they going to do? How many press releases have Tesla managed to come up with during this entire conflict? Two? Three? The entirety of Tesla Sweden has one giant ball gag stuffed in the pie hole. And Elon isn't exactly available for comment... But guess who is answering questions... Of course the Union answers questions – and thus the media coverage unfolds accordingly.

And I disagree with your analysis. Of course, how we perceive media is obviously influenced by our own political standpoints. But I think it is fair to say that Sweden is still a homogeneous country with a strong pressure to conform to the "right" opinion. And when it comes to the so called Swedish model for the labour market, it is almost unanimously hailed as the perfect solution to ascertain a fair market with few strikes.

I am not knowledgeable enough to say whether that is correct or not, but I would like to see a more open and curious analysis by the media. As an employee, is Sweden the best country to be employed in and vice versa as an employer? And if it truly is, is that because of the Swedish model or due to other factors? I can at least see a lot of signs that other countries may be doing many things better. And I am very skeptical of the, in my opinion, quite obvious corruption built in the system.

Swedish journalists are on the whole pretty good, but sometimes they are lazy and clearly influenced by the prevalent narrative. In this case, that Tesla is a big American company that does not respect Swedish rules and tries to destroy a model everybody benefits from. In my mind, all that is wholly or partially wrong, except that Tesla is large and American.