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Across Sweden, around seventy car technicians persist to challenge one of the world's richest corporations – the electric vehicle manufacturer. The labor strike at the US automaker's ten Swedish repair facilities has now entered two years of duration, and there is little sign of a resolution.

One striking worker has remained at the Tesla protest line starting from October 2023.

"It has been a tough time," states the worker in his late thirties. With Sweden's chilly winter weather sets in, it's likely to become more challenging.

The mechanic spends each Monday with a colleague, standing outside an electric vehicle garage on a business district in Malmö. His union, the Swedish metalworkers' union, provides shelter in the form of a mobile construction vehicle, as well as hot beverages and light meals.

However it's operations continue normally nearby, where the service facility appears to operate in full swing.

The strike involves a matter that reaches to the core of Scandinavia's labor traditions – the authority for worker organizations to bargain for wages and working terms on behalf of their members. This principle of negotiated labor contracts has underpinned industrial relations in Sweden for almost one hundred years.

Today some 70% of Scandinavia's employees are members to labor organizations, while 90% are covered by a collective agreement. Labor stoppages in Sweden are rare.

This is an arrangement welcomed by all parties. "We favor the ability to negotiate directly with the unions and sign collective agreements," says a business representative from the Association of Swedish Enterprise business organization.

But Tesla has disrupted established practices. Vocal chief executive Elon Musk has said he "disagrees" with the idea of labor organizations. "I simply don't like anything which creates a sort of hierarchical sort of thing," he informed listeners at an event in 2023. "In my view labor groups try to generate conflict within businesses."

The automaker entered the Scandinavian market starting in 2014, while IF Metall has long sought to establish a labor contract with the company.

"But they wouldn't reply," states Marie Nilsson, the organization's president. "We formed the belief that they tried to avoid or not discuss this with our representatives."

She says the organization eventually saw no other option except to announce a strike, beginning on 27 October, 2023. "Usually it's enough to issue a warning," says Ms Nilsson. "The company typically agrees to the contract."

But not on this occasion.

Janis Kuzma, who is from Latvia, started working for Tesla in 2021. He claims that pay and work terms frequently subject to the whim of supervisors.

He recalls a performance review where he says he was refused a salary increase on grounds he was "failing to meet company targets". Meanwhile, a colleague was said to be turned down for a pay rise because he had the "wrong attitude".

However, not everyone went out on strike. Tesla employed approximately 130 mechanics working when the industrial action was initiated. IF Metall says currently around seventy of its members are participating in the action.

Tesla has since replaced the striking workers with replacement staff, for which there is no precedent since the Great Depression.

"The company has done it [found replacement staff] publicly and methodically," says German Bender, a researcher at Arena Idé, a think tank supported by Scandinavian labor organizations.

"It is not illegal, which is crucial to understand. But it goes against all traditional norms. But Tesla shows no concern about norms.

"They want to become convention challengers. So if anyone tells them, listen, you are breaking a norm, they perceive that as a compliment."

The automaker's local division declined requests for comment via correspondence citing "all-time high vehicle shipments".

In fact, the company has granted just a single press discussion during the entire period since the industrial action started.

Earlier this year, the local division's "country lead", the executive, told a financial publication that it suited the organization better not to have a collective agreement, and instead "to collaborate directly with employees and give them the best possible terms".

The executive denied that the decision not to enter a labor contract was determined by US leadership in the US. "Our division possesses authorization to take independent such choices," he said.

IF Metall is not completely isolated in its fight. The strike has received backing by a number of other unions.

Dockworkers in nearby Scandinavian nations, Norway & neighboring states, decline to handle Teslas; rubbish is no longer collected from the automaker's Scandinavian locations; and recently constructed power points are not being linked to the grid in the country.

There is one such facility close to the capital's airport, at which twenty charging units stand idle. However a Tesla enthusiast, the leader of enthusiasts group Tesla Club Sweden, says vehicle owners are unaffected by the strike.

"There exists another charging station six miles from here," he comments. "Plus we are able to still buy our cars, we can maintain our cars, we can power our cars."

With stakes significant for all parties, it's hard to see a resolution to the stand-off. The union risks setting a precedent should it surrender the fundamental concept of negotiated labor contracts.

"The concern is that this could expand," states the researcher, "and eventually {erode