Electric car company Tesla on Monday filed a lawsuit against the Swedish state over a strike by postal workers blocking license plate deliveries for its new cars — and received its first favorable ruling on the same day.
Tesla is currently facing strikes on multiple fronts in Sweden over its refusal to sign a collective wage agreement for its engineers.
On November 20, Swedish postal workers joined in and began disrupting deliveries to Tesla’s offices and repair shops.
As license plates for new cars are only delivered by post in Sweden, the ban could stop the new Tesla from hitting the road, something Tesla CEO Elon Musk called “crazy”.
Musk has long rejected calls to allow the company’s 127,000 employees worldwide to unionize.
However, collective agreements with unions form the basis of the Swedish labor market model, covering almost 90 percent of all employees and guaranteeing wages and working conditions.
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Tesla has asked the courts to compel the Swedish Transport Agency to ensure that license plates for vehicles registered to the agency “go into Tesla’s possession”.
Tesla also asked the court to impose a fine of one million kroner ($96,000) if the Swedish Transport Agency does not comply.
There was some good news for Tesla late Monday, when the transportation agency said it had obtained a “temporary” court order requiring it to agree, within seven days, for Tesla to receive its license plates directly from the license plate manufacturer.
“The plate manufacturer has announced to us that it is ready to supply the plates directly to Tesla, provided that the Swedish Transport Agency agrees,” the public service added in a message to AFP, adding that it was assessing the consequences of this court ruling.
The agency told AFP last week that it was only able to deliver the plates through the postal company Postnord, as it was obliged to use them under a contract that applies to all government services.
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In a separate lawsuit, Tesla wants the courts to compel Postnord, which is owned by the Swedish and Danish states, to make all deliveries addressed to Tesla.
About 130 mechanics at 10 Tesla repair shops in seven cities across Sweden walked off the job on October 27, according to the IF Metall union.
The strike has since expanded to include other repair shops serving Tesla. Dockers also stopped unloading Tesla cars at Swedish ports.
In addition to IF Metall, nine other unions have announced “support measures”.
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© Agence France-Presse
Source: AFP