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In Sweden, approximately 70 car mechanics persist to confront among the world's wealthiest corporations – the electric vehicle manufacturer. The industrial action at the American carmaker's 10 Swedish repair facilities has now reached two years of duration, with minimal sign of a settlement.

Janis Kuzma has been at the electric car company's protest line since October 2023.

"It has been a tough time," remarks the worker in his late thirties. And as the nation's chilly seasonal conditions sets in, it is expected to grow more challenging.

The mechanic spends every start of the week alongside a colleague, positioned near an electric vehicle garage on a business district located in southern Sweden. The labor organization, IF Metall, provides accommodation via a portable builders' van, plus coffee & light meals.

However it's business as usual across the road, at which the workshop appears to operate at full capacity.

The strike concerns a matter that goes to the core of Swedish industrial culture – the authority of trade unions to negotiate pay & conditions representing their members. This concept of collective agreement has underpinned industrial relations in Sweden for almost one hundred years.

Currently some 70% of Swedish workers belong of a trade union, while 90% fall under under negotiated labor contracts. Labor stoppages across the nation occur infrequently.

This is a system welcomed across the board. "We favor the ability to bargain freely with the unions and sign labor contracts," states a business representative from the Association of Swedish Enterprise business organization.

However Tesla has upset the apple cart. Outspoken CEO Elon Musk has stated he "opposes" with the concept of unions. "I simply don't like anything which creates a kind of hierarchical situation," he told listeners in New York last year. "I think labor groups try to generate conflict within businesses."

The automaker came to the Scandinavian market back in the mid-2010s, and IF Metall has for years wanted to secure a collective agreement with the automaker.

"But they wouldn't respond," states the union president, the union's president. "We formed the belief that they attempted to hide away or not discuss the matter with our representatives."

She states the organization eventually found no other option than to announce a strike, which started on 27 October, 2023. "Typically the threat suffices to make a warning," comments the union leader. "Employers usually agrees to the agreement."

However this did not happen on this occasion.

The striking mechanic, originally of Latvian origin, started working with the automaker several years ago. He asserts that pay and conditions were often subject to the whim of managers.

He recalls an evaluation meeting at which he states he was denied an annual pay rise on grounds that he "failing to meet company targets". At the same time, a colleague was reported to be turned down for increased compensation because he had an "inappropriate demeanor".

Nevertheless, some workers went out in the industrial action. Tesla had some one hundred thirty technicians working at the time the strike was called. The union states currently approximately 70 of their represented workers are on strike.

The automaker has long since substituted these with new workers, a situation that has no precedent since the 1930s.

"The company has done it [found replacement staff] openly & systematically," states a labor researcher, a researcher at Arena Idé, a policy organization supported by Swedish trade unions.

"It's not against the law, this being crucial to understand. But it goes against all traditional practices. But the company doesn't care about norms.

"They want to be norm breakers. Thus when anyone tells them, hey, you are breaking a norm, they perceive that as praise."

The automaker's Swedish subsidiary refused attempts for interview via correspondence citing "record vehicle shipments".

Indeed, the automaker has granted just a single press discussion during the entire period since the strike began.

In March 2024, the Swedish subsidiary's "country lead", the executive, informed a financial publication that it benefited the organization more not to have a collective agreement, and rather "to work closely with the team and provide workers optimal terms".

Mr Stark denied that the choice not to enter a collective agreement was one made by US leadership in the US. "Our division possesses a mandate to make our own such choices," he said.

IF Metall is not entirely isolated in this conflict. This industrial action has received backing by a number of other unions.

Port workers in nearby Scandinavian nations, Norway and neighboring states, are refusing to process the company's vehicles; waste is no longer collected from Tesla's Swedish facilities; and newly built power points remain linked to power networks in the country.

There is one such facility near Stockholm Arlanda Airport, at which twenty charging units stand idle. However a Tesla enthusiast, the leader of enthusiasts group the Swedish Tesla association, says vehicle owners are unaffected by the strike.

"There's an alternative power point 10km from this location," he comments. "And we can continue to purchase vehicles, we can maintain our cars, we can charge our cars."

With consequences significant for all parties, it's hard to see an end to the deadlock. IF Metall faces the danger of setting a precedent if it concedes the fundamental concept of collective agreement.

"The worry is how this could expand," states the researcher, "and ultimately {erode