For decades, the unions of the LO (Landsorganisationen i Sverige) have been reluctant to call for strikes and other industrial action. Occasionally, they have been pressured to do so, but even then only half-heartedly, agreeing to deals that were far worse than their members had hoped. The unwillingness of the leaders of the trade union movement to fight has been decisive in the steady retreat that has moved politics further and further to the right. Thanks to the abolition of specific taxes for the wealthy, Sweden is now a very good country to be rich in, and we have seen market adjustments across the board. For the rest of us, the stress is getting worse and insecurity greater.
On 27 October, the metalworkers’ union, IF Metall, went on all out strike at Tesla – or TM Sweden, as it is called here. This came after the company refused to agree to a collective bargaining agreement on the instructions of headquarters. As of 7 November, the Transport Union paralysed four ports with a blockade against Tesla, extending to the remaining ports on 17 November. On the same day, the Housing Workers’ Union blocked the cleaning of Tesla workshops, and the Electricians’ Union announced that it would stop the supply of electricity to the workshops and charging stations. The service and communications union, Seko, is also joining the fight. As of November 20, mail will no longer be delivered to Tesla.
In other words, the LO unions are mobilising on a scale not seen since the strike and blockade against the toy manufacturer Toys “R” Us. Then, a three-month strike forced the company to give in and sign a collective agreement.
Of course, the reason that even the leaders of the unions are showing a willingness to fight is that they feel threatened themselves. They have been willing to back down in many situations when their positions and absurdly high salaries would not suffer from poor wage settlements and the betrayal of their members’ interests. But now that Tesla has refused to sign collective bargaining agreements, they too have reached their limits. If Tesla prevails, the position of all trade unions and, therefore, of the trade union bureaucracy, will be seriously jeopardised. That’s why they’re now speaking out.
Tesla is on the defensive in Sweden in the face of this union show of power and will not be able to do much in the immediate term. It will be difficult to maintain operations on a significant scale without widespread strikebreaking. They will certainly try that, but so far it seems they have little chance of success.
Most other companies in Sweden would probably quickly give in or simply abandon their plans, given the depth of the union campaign. But now it’s Tesla, with the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, in the saddle. He could afford to go on for a long time. The costs for the LO unions involved will also be limited, and they will be able to afford a long conflict. The strike funds are quite substantial.
Freedom of strike
The situation could change if the dealers were to launch a major counterattack with the aim of demagogically dragging consumers into the conflict. However, this does not seem likely. What is clear, however, is that the right and the capitalist class as a whole are troubled and angered by what is happening. They obviously dislike the fact that even trade unions with collective agreements and, therefore, a duty to “keep the peace”, can participate in sympathy strikes.
Therefore, it is likely that the business associations and the right will launch a political offensive to restrict the right to strike in solidarity. This has already begun. For example, Stefan Koskinen, head of the labour market policy department at the Employers’ Association, Almega, was quick to explain that the fact that companies with collective agreements can also be affected by solidarity strikes poses a threat to the Swedish model.
This is, of course, pure nonsense, but it is a significant declaration of intent by the capitalists. A clear majority of members of parliament belong to parties that have either tabled motions or stated in their party manifestos that they want to restrict the right to strike in solidarity. At the same time, this is an issue on which social democracy may not want to give in so easily. It is possible that the right will shy away from a major battle in this area, but in any case, this is a threat for which we must be prepared.
In the case of Tesla, a defeat would strengthen the fight for collective bargaining in the US. There, the United Auto Workers (UAW) recently called off a 46-day strike after Ford, Stellantis and General Motors backed down. Musk doesn’t want to give in to the autoworkers any further and doesn’t want to add more fuel to the fire, but at the same time it’s difficult to run a business here when the entire LO has a say in power. Perhaps he will consider a solution similar to that of Amazon in Sweden. There, business is outsourced to subcontractors who are covered by collective agreements. It would certainly be even harder for Musk to pretend that a subcontractor is not Tesla, if this has happened so clearly after a defeat for the Swedish trade union movement. But maybe that’s a possibility.
Organise the rank-and-file unions!
We don’t want to speculate on that any further. Importantly, this is a struggle that the workers’ movement must win. If one company is allowed to refuse collective agreements, others will follow. This time, the union leadership seems to be committed to the same goal. However, it would be unwise for the rank and file of the unions to rely solely on the leadership to lead the struggle to victory. Even if they are more motivated than usual this time, we know how many bad contracts and rotten compromises they have agreed to.
Above all, however, the leadership of the overpaid bureaucrats is based on the passivity of the members. A victory against Tesla alone will not halt the decline of the union movement, but it could send a signal. To beat back the prevailing right-wing politics, we need militant and offensive trade unions, with political strikes being an important weapon.
To achieve this, we need to organise a grassroots movement in the unions with the aim of replacing the overpaid militant bureaucrats with genuine representatives of the members’ interests – representatives paid an average worker’s wage and stay in post as long as they have the trust of the members and do not hesitate to fight for their interests. All the radical members of the affected unions, all those who are tired of the contracts being bad and the workers’ movement constantly being pushed back: now is the best time to organise! Put pressure on the union leadership not to take a single step back against Tesla, and then replace them with new leaders who are determined to beat back any right-wing policies!