Sweden’s Tesla blockade is spreading — Starting Friday, dockworkers in all Swedish ports will refuse to offload Teslas, cleaning crews will no longer clean showrooms, and mechanics won’t fix chargi…::Starting Friday, dockworkers in all Swedish ports will refuse to offload Teslas, cleaning crews will no longer clean showrooms, and mechanics won’t fix charging points as the labor dispute rages on.

  • wootz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There are three battles wise men know not to fight:

    • A land war in Asia
    • The Finns in winter
    • Swedish Unions
  • MondayToFriday@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Three days later, on November 20, the Seko union, which represents postal workers, will stop delivering letters, spare parts, and pallets to all of Tesla’s addresses in Sweden. “Tesla is trying to gain competitive advantages by giving the workers worse wages and conditions than they would have with a collective agreement,” said Seko’s union president, Gabriella Lavecchia, in a statement. “It is of course completely unacceptable.”

    Interesting that it is legal to withhold mail. In many countries that would be a crime.

    • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      There are many ways to legally do this. They may just adhere to regulations more strictly. Where before they would bend the rules to help out.

      They might just schedule Tesla’s mail for the end of the day and be extra “careful” that day. Oops, there wasn’t enough time to deliver their mail! Maybe after a few days of a customer’s mail building up, there’s a rule saying the customer has to come in and get it themselves. Following all the rules exactly will fuck up any system because they are rarely created with overall productivity in mind.

      • uis@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        “This parcel is kinda sus and looks like bomb parts. Regulations says to fill form A123 and wait for ministry that no longer exists fill form B456. Whatever, regulation says so.”

    • RealJoL@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Probably pretty hard to punish your entire work force. Next they could start boycotting you for punishing them. Or maybe their tariff contract may also cover this as legal strike action.

    • uis@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      They don’t withhold, they just don’t deliver.

      Maybe Tesla even can send their employee to pick up letters and stuff. Right, nobody want to work at Tesla. Well, tough luck.

      • 0x0@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        Sorry but what’s the difference between intentionally not delivering and withholding? Semantics?

        • elauso@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          To me it seems pretty clear: withholding means you don’t get your mail delivered and cannot fetch it yourself at the post office, while “not delivering” means just that: you don’t get your mail delivered.

        • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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          1 year ago

          It’s still available to pick up from a post office, they just don’t do last mile delivery

    • WallEx@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      I think if you don’t open the mail and only withhold it from being delivered, so not destroying it, it’s morally fine. That doesn’t say anything about laws though ^^

  • sunbeam60@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    As a Dane I’m bloody embarrassed if Danish unionised workers are unloading the cars there. They should bloody strike with their Nordic brothers and sisters.

      • sunbeam60@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        I don’t live in Denmark so I don’t know. But I don’t think Tesla has signed a deal with any union, globally, so it’s probably the same there. I’d personally love to see the Space Baby brought to heel. Growing up with unions as a natural fabric of society, and indeed with unions on the boards of most business in Denmark, it’s never appeared as an adversarial thing to me until I moved to an Anglo-Saxon country.

    • Evotech@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Norwegian dock workers are joining the swedes at least. Even though Tesla in Norway is unionized

  • snor10@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Proud to be a member of the Swedish metalworkers union!

      • snor10@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        We are music agnostic, need to keep our eyes on the ball and not descend into the madness that is metal genre debates.

      • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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        1 year ago

        Obviously not dead metal workers, they have the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work

    • TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id
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      1 year ago

      Like Ironworkers, steelworkers or tinbenders? They are all separate unions here in the US though all three are AFL-CIO.

      If anyone is wondering, Ironworkers are erectors, steelworkers work in foundries and steel mills and tinbenders are sheet metal guys. Roughly.

      • snor10@lemm.ee
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        We are quite diverse and do not conform to the old guilds, we are the union of the industry union and the metal union since 2006.

        Everything from miners, pastics, medical equipment, industrial chemistry, glassmakers, autobody, forgeworkers to locksmiths and metal shops.

        • TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id
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          1 year ago

          That’s the way it should be and would be here in the US but for a suite of historical and socio-political influences that have tended to fracture the skilled trade unions into different specialties.

          Fortunately most of the big unions fall under the AFL-CIO umbrella, but our laws are such that it’s not the case that AFL-CIO can negotiate as a single block.

          And of course some of that is simply due to scale since what makes sense in one part of the US doesn’t necessarily make sense in another.

  • Ozymati@lemmy.nz
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    1 year ago

    Will someone please give me the cliffs notes on how Tesla has pissed off the Swedes?

    • Maalus@lemmy.world
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      It didn’t sign a deal with the unions and tried to strongarm its way through it

      • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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        I see, so another case of Americans thinking their rules apply everywhere.

        • Case@lemmynsfw.com
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          1 year ago

          To be fair, Tesla is owned by a South African who immigrated to Canada, then the US - and had apartheid slaves do the hard part of precious stone mining.

          Much like the former cheetoh in chief, completely removed from the realities others face, and never had to deal with consequences.

          It isn’t a solely American thing, though we may be the world champs at it.

        • WashedOver@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          It’s funny how we all do that. You see it in immigrants that bring their best practices and learned culture to their new homes.

          It’s a tale as old as time. We certainly did not abandon our European ways, and adopt the original American native lifestyle upon our arrival to the continent. It certainly affected our ways for survival but we certainly pushed our way of life without a doubt with its European economic and religious values.

          So the circle of life now? 😇

    • WashedOver@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Reading the article, it seems they do not have basic minimum wages set federally and collective agreements are the basis in all workplaces.

      I have to wonder if Tesla will just find other ways to get the product into the country instead. Unconfirmed local reports say that the cars are being unloaded in Danish ports then driven into Sweden.

      Toys are Us refused to sign a collective agreement in the mid 90s but was convinced to sign after similar strike actions.

      So it seems Sweden might still have a strong union environment and will be able to affect public sentiment about Tesla in the long term as they even mention people refusing services from Tesla based taxis.

      • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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        1 year ago

        The original trigger is that Tesla refused to negotiate with the union members for 5 years (IF Metall is the union, for industry workers), they haven’t recognized the unionization at all.

  • StickyLavander@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Please everyone get on board with this. Do not support greedy corporations!

    Tesla, Amazon, Starbucks, are all trying to stop there workers from unionizing and giving them better life. You have other options, don’t give them money. This is because in todays world we vote with our money to make change happen.

    • M137@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      their*

      And yes, there are very few things most people aren’t able to get elsewhere from another company. It’s only a bit inconvenient at first, when you have to spend some time finding better alternatives but once you’ve done that it’s just as easy as before and you feel good about your choices.

    • reksas@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      I just try to act like these firms dont exist. I wont even open amazons website, but even if i did and couldn’t find something anywhere else, i would just consider that item to not be available for purchase anywhere. I also refuse to receive anything that I can see is related to companies like these even for free, if its reasonable to do so and even then reluctantly. Nestle is fucking annoying about this since they actively try to hide their name under other brands they have control over.

      • douglasg14b@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Unfortunately most of the platforms you use, likely this one too, are hosted on AWS :/

        The big money maker of Amazon.

        It’s impossible to get away from, which really sucks.

        • reksas@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Yea, some things just can’t be avoided. But its still important to even try to make an effort, maybe some day there will be competitor to aws for example. I would also be kind of content with aws if amazon just dropped the webstore and warehouse business, which they might if it stops making money. That might drive them to make stupid decisions with aws and create more room for competitors.

  • uis@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This is what happens when capitalism tries to fight with democracy. If government fucks over citizens, then citizens ignore government, but if government represents and helps citizens, citizens will do “Tesla, fuck you!”.

    EDIT: or when unions work.

    • nutsack@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      funny choice of an image because that guy and his product got completely fucked by capitalism. that’s why he’s so pissed off here.

      • havokdj@lemmy.world
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        How exactly did Linux get fucked by capitalism?

        This image is of Linus torvalds giving nvidia the middle finger because they are absolutely terrible to work with, money aside.

    • Zink@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      If The Swedes are commies then just call me Comradesson!

      • an American who collaborates with our office in Sweden.
      • snor10@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Kamratsson in Swedish.

        Fun fact: In Sweden it is common use the phrase “Work comrade” (arbetskamrat) to refer to your colleagues.

    • Amends1782@lemmy.ca
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      Dude what the actual fuck are you saying, almost the entirety of lemmys user base is extremely left and pro communism and socialism. In fact, certain parts are so communist, they got defederated. And you’ll see what people call “tankies” everywhere. Lemmy is the epitome of leftist thinking and ideals. What a silly comment to make, here, of all places. It would make sense on twitter

      Edit: this comment would be legit on Facebook too

      • uis@lemmy.world
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        I woudn’t call simping for Putin or certain chinese capitalist as communism.

      • 0x0@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        In fact, certain parts are so communist, they got defederated.

        That’s kinda sad, as is an overwhelming majority leaning to one side alone. Now you’re making me wish there were some “damn commies” comments, i dislike echo chambers.

        Don’t forget to breathe.

        • Amends1782@lemmy.ca
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          I also cant stand echo chambers, but without a shadow of a doubt, Lemmy is the worst with it. I thought reddit was bad…

  • profdc9@lemmy.world
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    Teslas in Sweden are probably going to have a lot of flat tires in the near future.

    • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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      Just the ones in the warehouses. Unions don’t get mad at the public. They get mad at shitty, oppressive, conservative employers.

      • WashedOver@lemmy.ca
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        The article does mention refusing Tesla based taxi service. Not sure how they are structured there but I do see individuals that own Tesla’s possibly being affected as a result.

      • uis@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        conservative employers.

        Depending on location and time, conservative might mean literal communists.

    • aes@programming.dev
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      Oh, you mean a mass movement of anarcho-communist activism would slash the tires of private cars?

      No.

      It’s even wilder. This is just normal people having a union.

      • Emma_Gold_Man@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        I don’t think they were suggesting slashed tires, just that lentil bean sales are about to go up.

        But yeah, targeting people who bought cars before the labor issue was widely known wouldn’t be productive.

  • Alpha71@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I find it fascinating that they have no legislation about workers rights. I am curious if any Swedes could inform me how the “conservative” style movements are doing in Sweden.

    • aes@programming.dev
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      Well, I guess I have two thoughts on that. For one, what you’re probably thinking of is seen as basically qanon freaks. The other is that of course there’s a political right, and of course there is a social conservative current.

      The right has traditionally been a coalition of liberals and conservatives, but the Christian conservatives are actually Christian. (They command a certain degree of respect, even though I don’t agree)

      As for the social conservatives, they’re to a large degree absorbed by either the traditional social democrats (or “total autocrats” as I like to call them) or the nazis.

      The WHAT?

      Yes. The left was so busy suppressing racism (real) that they made it basically impossible to have adult conversation about the problems inherent in eliminating low-education jobs and, at the same time, accepting a lot of illiterate refugees. And as the reality of taking from the middle class boomers (who strongly identify as working class) to fund the result, the nazis were there, and they’re scary huge now.

      Idk, there’s a lot to unpack and explain here, and I’m sure others have other angles, so I’ll leave it at that.

    • SuperTulle@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      Sweden has plenty of legislation about workers rights, this conflict has more to do with employee benefits and the unions right to represent their members.

    • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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      We have legislation about worker safety and basic fundamental worker rights, but we don’t have a minimum wage and some other stuff legislated because that’s left to collective agreements with the unions