Will Tesla Semi be affected if Tesla becomes unionized?

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IKEM: "IF Metalls stridsåtgärder mot Hydro Extrusion är orimliga!" - nordiskaprojekt

IF Metall har i sin konflikt med Tesla riktat varsel mot IKEM:s medlemsföretag Hydro Extrusion i Vetlanda. Från och...

www.nordiskaprojekt.se

Translated to English:

IKEM: "IF Metall's industrial action against Hydro Extrusion is unreasonable!"​

By the Stordåhd Editorial Office |Friday 24 November 2023 at 11:57

In its conflict with Tesla , IF Metall has issued a notice against IKEM 's member company Hydro Extrusion in Vetlanda. As of today, November 24 at 1 p.m., the strike will be implemented and Hydro Extrusion will no longer be allowed to manufacture a crucial component for Tesla cars. IKEM believes that the industrial action is unreasonable.

That a trade union takes industrial action to get companies to sign a collective agreement is part of the Swedish model. But IKEM believes that it is an unreasonable industrial action to target a company that partly has nothing to do with the conflict, and partly has a collective agreement themselves. Hydro Extrusion can neither influence nor resolve the conflict between IF Metall and Tesla.

- The duty of peace, i.e. the protection against conflict measures, is the most important function of collective agreements. The fact that IF Metall is now subjecting our collective bargaining member to a strike means that the company is suffering financial damage and endangering important business relationships. The situation is very unfortunate and we are following developments closely, says Jonas Hagelqvist, CEO, IKEM.

- After all, Hydro Extrusion has nothing to do with the conflict, and they can't influence it either. The situation also raises questions about which party should actually take the financial risk when such a conflict arises, continues Jonas Hagelqvist.

In a recent economic barometer for quarter 3, IKEM's member companies had to rate Swedish competitive conditions in comparison with the rest of the world. According to the survey, "a functioning labor market" is considered to be one of the most important conditions. IKEM warns that the conflict risks affecting Sweden's reputation internationally and, in the long run, impairing the industry's competitiveness. Many other countries have more balanced conflict rules. Sweden needs that too.

- Sweden needs to limit the possibility of sympathy measures and introduce a rule of proportionality. IF Metall's industrial action risks seriously damaging Swedish competitiveness and reducing companies' incentives to establish themselves and invest in Sweden, concludes Jonas Hagelqvist.

Kollektivavtal och kollektivavtalsvillkor i offentlig upphandling

Published February 23, 2015

Procurement, Commission research, 2015:2

Collective agreements and collective agreement conditions in public procurement​

Andrea Sundstrand has, within the framework of the Swedish Competition Authority's commissioned research, investigated the extent to which it is possible for procuring authorities to impose requirements on collective agreements or on other labor law conditions, with the aim of protecting employees from unreasonable wages and unsafe employment and working conditions.

The conclusions in the report indicate that it is currently not possible to require companies to have collective agreements in connection with public procurement. On the other hand, it is possible to make demands that the companies meet certain conditions in the collective agreements.

 

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Junesjö: ”LO-förbunden sitter nu fast i skiten”

Flera tunga experter varnade för ökad avtalsshopping med förändrad strejkrätt. Kurt Junesjö var en av dem.

www.arbetaren.se

Junesjö: "The LO unions are now stuck in the *sugar*"​

Translated to English:

Several heavy-hitting experts warned of increased contract shopping with changed right to strike. Kurt Junesjö was one of them. With mixed feelings, he now says that in the short two years with the new rules, he has seen more cases reported than have ever been before the Labor Court. Then the unions won. Now "they've got themselves into *sugar*," he says.

In less than two years, Arbetaren has been able to report on four cases where LO unions have accused companies of contract shopping. The union concept aims to describe how a company opts out of agreements with better conditions for employees in favor of a cheaper one or an agreement that gives employers greater freedom.

Such a development was something that labor law experts warned would follow from the restricted right to strike that was hammered out in August 2019 . One of these experts, one of the loudest critics, was Kurt Junesjö, former chief legal officer at LO-TCO Rättskydd.

- It was a rather unusual phenomenon before and in the cases where they occurred, the unions managed to correct it through industrial action. Now it is obviously more common and the unions have no legal options whatsoever to correct it, he says

Kurt Junesjö shares the stance put forward by the architects behind the changed right to strike that contract shopping was unusual in the Swedish labor market, just not that it was set in stone. He says he can only recall three cases in modern times when such issues were dealt with in the Labor Court. In all cases, where the so-called Figeholm case was the most famous, the union took industrial action to force the employers to comply with the principle that LO itself internally decides which union signs the agreement, the so-called industrial union principle. In all cases the unions won.

You don't have to be Einstein to know that if the employer has the freedom to choose an agreement, which agreement do you choose? Not the most expensive but of course the cheaper.

Kurt Junesjö, former chief legal officer at LO-TCO Rättskydd.

But with the new right-to-strike rules, which followed an agreement between LO, TCO, SACO and Swedish business, the unions no longer have the right to take industrial action to demand initial agreements if employers have already signed an agreement with another union, even if they have traditionally organized just this one category of employees. In Kurt Junesjö's words, "LO has put themselves in the *sugar*."

- You don't have to be Einstein to know that if the employer has the freedom to choose an agreement, which agreement do you choose? Not the most expensive but of course the cheaper. What LO has done is that they have given away their right to determine the placement of the union according to the industrial confederation principle. That they have agreed to such a thing is completely incomprehensible. It is considered one of the cornerstones of the Swedish model that the union should not compete with each other for minimum wages.

Over the past two years, the worker has been able to report on how the Electricians accuse their counterpart Almega of systematically, through contract shopping, forcing out the union's agreement in the alarm industry in favor of the Union's agreement. This by changing the professional title of the alarm installers and considering them as civil servants. The electricians have taken industrial action at Hometec Security in Gothenburg and notified about it at two additional places. The cases have ended with the employer signing the union's agreement, but then not applying them. The unions have so far not taken the cases to court. But last week Arbetaren reported that Transport is now challenging the catering company Gate Gourmet in the Labor Court for what they call contract shopping with claims for millions in damages.

But according to Kurt Junesjö, it is unprofitable. The legal situation is clear. It follows from the new right to strike and has already been established by the judgment in the Harbor Workers' Union's lawsuit against Sweden's ports last year. Kurt Junesjö does believe that the Labor Court acted unlawfully, but the conclusion of the judgment is that whoever is in charge of the second agreement has lost the opportunity to influence the employees' conditions.

- What the Labor Court says is that their agreement does not have legal effect if it causes inconvenience or complication for the employer, says Kurt Junesjö.

The unions are now stuck in their own legislation.

Kurt Junesjö, former chief legal officer at LO-TCO Rättskydd.

That's it, he says. Choosing an agreement yourself has never been prohibited. That it has not happened has not been due to the employers' perception that it is wrong, but that the unions have been able to stop it with industrial action. With that opportunity gone, it is now free to move forward and development will go in that direction, reasons Kurt Junesjö.

- The unions are now stuck in their own legislation. My belief is that this has been kept fairly low profile because there was such intense debate before the change. The employers' organizations have put a certain damper on their member companies' ambitions to obtain the cheapest contract. That ambition is now being dissolved, says Kurt Junesjö.

 

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Something is rotten in Denmark..........

Danish union joins strike action against Tesla by Swedish workers

Pressure grows on US electric car company to grant collective bargaining rights to employees

www.theguardian.com

 

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Norway union joins Tesla blockade in support for Swedish workers By Reuters

Norway union joins Tesla blockade in support for Swedish workers

uk.investing.com

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's Fellesforbundet, the country's largest private sector labour union, said on Wednesday it could from Dec. 20 start blocking any transport of Tesla cars meant for the Swedish market.

Swedish unions have taken industrial action against Tesla since October in a bid to force the car manufacturer to sign collective bargaining agreements with mechanics.

"We consider blocking transportation of Tesla cars through Norway to Sweden unless Tesla reaches an agreement with Sweden's IF Metall union," a spokesperson for the Norwegian union told Reuters.

On Tuesday, Denmark's 3F labour union also said it would support the Swedish mechanics by refusing to unload or transport cars made by the U.S. auto company for customers in Sweden.

The Norwegian and Danish unions said their actions would only affect cars that are meant for the Swedish market.