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Across Sweden, approximately 70 car mechanics continue to challenge one of the globe's wealthiest corporations – the electric vehicle manufacturer. This industrial action targeting the US automaker's 10 Scandinavian repair facilities has now reached its second anniversary, and there is minimal sign of a resolution.

Janis Kuzma has been at the electric car company's picket line starting from October 2023.

"It has been a difficult time," states the 39-year-old. And as the nation's chilly seasonal conditions sets in, it is expected to become more challenging.

Janis devotes each Monday with a fellow worker, standing near an electric vehicle service center within an industrial park located in southern Sweden. The labor organization, the Swedish metalworkers' union, provides accommodation in the form of a mobile construction vehicle, as well as coffee and sandwiches.

However it's business as usual nearby, at which the service facility appears to be in full swing.

The strike concerns an issue that goes to the core of Scandinavia's labor traditions – the right for worker organizations to bargain for pay & conditions on behalf of their workforce. This principle of negotiated labor contracts has supported labor dynamics across the nation for almost a century.

Currently approximately 70% of Swedish workers are members of a trade union, while ninety percent fall under under negotiated labor contracts. Strikes in Sweden occur infrequently.

This is a system supported across the board. "We favor the ability to negotiate directly with the unions and sign labor contracts," says Mattias Dahl from the Association of Swedish Enterprise employer group.

However the electric car company has upset the apple cart. Vocal CEO Elon Musk has said he "disagrees" with the concept of unions. "I simply disapprove of anything which creates a sort of hierarchical sort of thing," he informed an audience at an event last year. "In my view the unions attempt to generate conflict in a company."

The automaker entered Sweden back in 2014, while the metalworkers' union has long sought to establish a labor contract with the automaker.

"But they wouldn't reply," states the union president, the union's president. "And we got the impression that they tried to avoid or evade discussing the matter with our representatives."

She states the union eventually found no other option except to announce industrial action, beginning on 27 October, 2023. "Usually it's enough to make the threat," says Ms Nilsson. "The company usually signs the agreement."

However this did not happen in this case.

Janis Kuzma, who is of Latvian origin, started working for Tesla in 2021. He claims that pay and work terms were often subject to the discretion of managers.

He remembers an evaluation meeting at which he says he was denied a salary increase on grounds he was "failing to meet company targets". At the same time, a coworker was said to be rejected for increased compensation because he had the "wrong attitude".

However, some workers participated in the industrial action. Tesla had approximately one hundred thirty technicians employed when the industrial action was called. The union says that today approximately 70 of its members are on strike.

Tesla has since substituted the striking workers with replacement staff, a situation there is no precedent since the 1930s.

"The company has accomplished this [found replacement staff] openly & systematically," states German Bender, an analyst at a research institute, a think tank supported by Swedish trade unions.

"It's not against the law, this being important to understand. However it goes against all established norms. But Tesla shows no concern about norms.

"They aim to be convention challengers. So if anyone informs them, listen, you are breaking a standard, they see this as praise."

The company's local division refused attempts for comment via correspondence mentioning "record vehicle shipments".

In fact, the company has given only one press discussion in the two years since the strike began.

Earlier this year, the Swedish subsidiary's "national manager, the executive, told a business paper that it suited the organization better not to have a collective agreement, and rather "to collaborate directly with the team and provide workers the best possible conditions".

The executive denied that the choice not to enter a labor contract was one made at Tesla headquarters in the US. "We have a mandate to make our own such decisions," he said.

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

Port workers in neighbouring Scandinavian nations, Nordic countries & neighboring states, are refusing to handle Teslas; rubbish is not collected from Tesla's Swedish facilities; and newly built charging stations remain linked to the grid across the nation.

There is an example close to Stockholm Arlanda Airport, at which 20 charging units stand idle. However Tibor Blomhäll, the president of enthusiasts group the Swedish Tesla association, states vehicle owners are unaffected by the strike.

"There's another charging station 10km from this location," he comments. "And we can still purchase vehicles, we can maintain our vehicles, we can power our electric cars."

With stakes significant on both sides, it is difficult to envision a resolution to the deadlock. IF Metall faces the danger of setting a precedent if it concedes the principle of collective agreement.

"The concern is that this could expand," says Mr Bender, "and eventually {erode