The protest against Tesla is expanding in the Nordic countries. Another state was added – Garáž.cz

In Sweden, Tesla has been in dispute with unions for over a month. On October 27, the IF Metall union announced a strike by mechanics who refused to perform maintenance on Tesla cars because the automaker refuses to negotiate a collective agreement. Since then, members of other unions have joined the protest. Dock workers, garbage collectors, electricians and postmen, among others, refuse to do work associated with Tesla.

Collective agreements for employees are “a necessary part of the Nordic labor market system”, stated ACP chairman Ismo Kokko. “We have certain labor market agreements in the Nordic countries, and if you want to do business here, you have to follow them,” said Jan Villadsen of the Danish trade union 3F. Union solidarity is a common part of the labor market in the Nordic countries, and cross-border strikes are not unusual.

One of Denmark’s largest pension funds announced on Wednesday that it will sell its shares in Tesla because the US company refuses to reach an agreement with unions. PensionDanmark thus sold shares worth DKK 476 million (CZK 986 million).

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund said Tesla should respect basic labor rights, including collective bargaining. Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages this largest fund of its kind in the world, is the seventh largest shareholder of the American automaker. He holds a 0.88 percent stake in it worth $6.8 billion (CZK 154 billion).

NBIM said today that, unlike some other funds, it “has no plans” to divest its Tesla stake. “We expect the companies we invest in to respect basic human rights, including labor rights,” she said in a statement.

According to sources, the head of the car company, Elon Musk, is against the signing of the collective agreement, who called the protest “crazy”. In the case of the Nordic labor market, the carmaker found itself in a deadlock. Agreements between employers and employees serve as the cornerstone of Scandinavian economic models, which guarantee employees the right to negotiate wages, vacations, overtime pay and other conditions, CNBC wrote.