Stockholm: Tesla filed a lawsuit Monday against the Swedish Transportation Agency over a workers’ strike that has effectively blocked the U.S. auto maker’s delivery of license plates for new vehicles, court documents showed.
Employees of the state-owned postal company PostNord joined a strike on November 20 and stopped delivering license plates to Tesla.
The state-run transportation agency turned down Tesla’s request to collect the license plates itself and also refused to send them through distribution channels other than PostNord.
Tesla sued both PostNord and the transport agency in two separate lawsuits, which were first reported by Swedish business daily Dagens Industrie.
If metal, swedenThe largest manufacturing union is locked in a battle with Tesla to get a collective bargaining agreement for the company’s mechanics in Sweden. Metall put workers on strike on October 27, refusing to service Tesla cars.
Members of other unions, including dockworkers, electricians and cleaners, have since joined the sympathy actions.
The American carmaker has a policy of not signing collective bargaining agreements and says its workers have as good or better conditions than the Swedish union. The union says it is important for the Swedish labor market model that all companies have collective agreements.
In its court filing, Tesla called the transportation agency’s decision not to allow license plates to be picked up as “an unprecedented attack on a company operating in Sweden.”
It said the refusal to provide license plates could “impact a large number of consumers who have ordered a new car from Tesla”.
In 2022, Tesla delivered more than 9,000 electric vehicles to Swedish customers.
The transportation agency confirmed to Reuters on Monday that Tesla has filed a lawsuit, contending that the agency has not met its obligations to distribute Tesla’s license plates.
“At the Swedish Transport Agency we do not agree with this idea and therefore Tesla has decided to have this issue tested in court, which is their right,” a spokesperson for the agency said.
The spokeswoman said she had not yet seen the lawsuit and was unable to provide a more detailed response until the agency looked into the matter further.
PostNord said it was neutral in the conflict between unions and Tesla, but would need to read the lawsuit before commenting.
Seko, the union that organizes PostNord workers, told Reuters that an easier solution was for Tesla to sign a collective bargaining agreement with IF Metall.
Its spokesperson said, “We see this as a sign that they are no longer able to ignore our sympathy notices.”
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
Employees of the state-owned postal company PostNord joined a strike on November 20 and stopped delivering license plates to Tesla.
The state-run transportation agency turned down Tesla’s request to collect the license plates itself and also refused to send them through distribution channels other than PostNord.
Tesla sued both PostNord and the transport agency in two separate lawsuits, which were first reported by Swedish business daily Dagens Industrie.
If metal, swedenThe largest manufacturing union is locked in a battle with Tesla to get a collective bargaining agreement for the company’s mechanics in Sweden. Metall put workers on strike on October 27, refusing to service Tesla cars.
Members of other unions, including dockworkers, electricians and cleaners, have since joined the sympathy actions.
The American carmaker has a policy of not signing collective bargaining agreements and says its workers have as good or better conditions than the Swedish union. The union says it is important for the Swedish labor market model that all companies have collective agreements.
In its court filing, Tesla called the transportation agency’s decision not to allow license plates to be picked up as “an unprecedented attack on a company operating in Sweden.”
It said the refusal to provide license plates could “impact a large number of consumers who have ordered a new car from Tesla”.
In 2022, Tesla delivered more than 9,000 electric vehicles to Swedish customers.
The transportation agency confirmed to Reuters on Monday that Tesla has filed a lawsuit, contending that the agency has not met its obligations to distribute Tesla’s license plates.
“At the Swedish Transport Agency we do not agree with this idea and therefore Tesla has decided to have this issue tested in court, which is their right,” a spokesperson for the agency said.
The spokeswoman said she had not yet seen the lawsuit and was unable to provide a more detailed response until the agency looked into the matter further.
PostNord said it was neutral in the conflict between unions and Tesla, but would need to read the lawsuit before commenting.
Seko, the union that organizes PostNord workers, told Reuters that an easier solution was for Tesla to sign a collective bargaining agreement with IF Metall.
Its spokesperson said, “We see this as a sign that they are no longer able to ignore our sympathy notices.”
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
(TagstoTranslate)Tesla(T)Sweden(T)Stockholm(T)Elon Musk(T)Elon