Striking workers put major pressure on Tesla that could affect availability: ‘We cannot let it go’
Swedish workers are upping the pressure on Tesla to sign a collective bargaining agreement after 130 mechanics began a strike in late October.
Reuters reported on Nov. 15 that 50 unionized workers at Hydro Extrusions also planned to stop working on the United States automaker’s aluminum parts.
“We want Tesla Sweden to sign a collective agreement … We want this conflict to be as brief and short as possible,” said Jesper Pettersson, the spokesperson for the mechanics’ union, IF Metall.
This came after dockworkers joined the strike on Nov. 7 by blocking Tesla’s electric vehicles from being offloaded at ports, as Reuters reported. Car dealerships have also declined to handle Tesla products.
In an effort to reduce pollution linked to the overheating of our planet — which has raised concerns about the future livability of certain regions and our food supply — multiple countries and local governments have introduced measures to phase out gas-powered cars.
Pollution from transportation accounts for more than 16.2% of carbon pollution globally, according to Our World in Data, with gas-powered cars and vans responsible for nearly half of the seven billion metric tons (about 7.7 billion tons) of carbon dioxide from the sector, per Statista. EVs, however, don’t release pollution from their tailpipes.
Other EV companies have begun turning up the heat on Tesla, but the American automaker is still lapping the competition.
According to Electrek, Hydro Extrusions is a supplier that makes “critical components for the Model Y,” one of the best-selling cars in the world.
At this time, it’s unclear how the strike will impact the availability of Tesla’s products. The BBC reported on Nov. 27 that eight unions had joined IF Metall.
“It is of course completely unacceptable. The fight that IF Metall is now taking is important for the entire Swedish collective agreement model,” Gabriella Lavecchia, the president of the postal workers’ union, told the BBC.
As detailed by Reuters, 11,000 workers in Germany won a 4% raise from the automaker early in November, but German union IG Metall said “wages remain around 20% below those offered under collective agreements.”
“This fight is very, very important. It’s so important that we cannot let it go,” IF Metall negotiation secretary Veli-Pekka Saikkala told the outlet.
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