Tesla on Monday filed a lawsuit against the Swedish state over a postal workers’ strike that is hampering deliveries of licence plates for the electric carmaker’s new vehicles.
The Texas-based carmaker is already trying to fend off strikes on several fronts in the Scandinavian country over its refusal to agree a collective bargaining agreement for Tesla mechanics.
Last week, postal workers took action by blocking deliveries to Tesla offices and workshops.
As Swedish licence plates for new cars are only delivered by post, the blockade threatens to stop any new Teslas being used in the country for the foreseeable future, a move that CEO Elon Musk has branded ‘insane’.
Tesla claims ‘unlawful discriminatory attack’
Tesla said it was suing “the Swedish state through the Swedish Transport Administration” because the denial of access to the plates “constitutes an unlawful discriminatory attack against Tesla”.
The 52-year-old South African-born US citizen has resisted calls to allow the company’s 127,000 employees worldwide to unionise.
German EV manufacturers – greener than the rest?
However, collective agreements with unions are the bedrock of the Swedish labour market, covering almost 90% of the country’s workforce and safeguarding their pay and working conditions.
Musk also faces union problems in Germany
Elsewhere in Europe, Musk’s anti-union efforts haven’t stopped Tesla workers at its Brandenburg plant in Germany from joining the IG Metall union in growing numbers amid concerns about health, safety and overwork.
In October, more than 1,000 Tesla workers staged a first-ever action to demand better working conditions at the plant in Grünheide, which is located in the municipality of Brandenburg just outside Berlin.
