Musk’s Scandinavian woes deepen as Tesla loses Swedish courtroom case

Tesla‘s troubles with labor unions in Scandinavia deepened because it misplaced authorized motion in opposition to Sweden’s postal service over its refusal to ship license plates to the U.S. electrical car large.

The postal service’s employees blocked Tesla license plate deliveries late final month in a present of solidarity with mechanics putting over the corporate’s refusal to signal a collective bargaining settlement with workers, which is customary in Sweden.

Tesla took authorized motion whereas CEO Elon Musk branded the transfer “insane,” however a Swedish courtroom dominated Thursday that PostNord is not going to be pressured to ship license plates for now.

Presumably extra regarding for Musk, nevertheless, would be the sympathy strikes spreading all through Scandinavia as fellow unions coalesce their assist behind the area’s deeply entrenched precept of collective bargaining as a lynchpin of labor relations.

Union members throughout a bunch of Swedish industries have joined the secondary strike motion with members of commerce union IF Metall, who’ve been embroiled in an ongoing battle with Tesla for round six weeks.

Earlier this week, Denmark’s largest commerce union introduced its personal sympathy strike to stop Tesla automobiles being delivered to Danish ports and transported into Sweden.

Norway’s largest non-public sector union then on Wednesday introduced its intention to start blocking car shipments destined for Sweden from Dec. 20.

The strikes then unfold additional throughout the Nordic area, as Finnish transport employees’ union AKT on Thursday confirmed {that a} blockade on Tesla automobiles earmarked for Sweden would additionally come into pressure throughout all Finnish ports from Dec. 20.

AKT Chairman Ismo Kokko mentioned collective agreements for employees had been “a vital a part of the Nordic labor market system,” based on Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

In the meantime, considered one of Denmark’s largest pension funds on Wednesday introduced it might promote its holdings of Tesla inventory over the U.S. firm’s refusal to enter into agreements with labor unions. PensionDanmark offered the shares at a market worth of 476 million Danish kroner ($68.8 million), based on Reuters.

PensionDanmark instructed CNBC on Friday that its strategy to accountable investments is “based mostly on worldwide conventions and agreements, together with the ILO conventions relating to labor rights.”

“If an organization doesn’t stay as much as our insurance policies, we initially attempt to affect the corporate by way of energetic possession – each straight and in coordination with different shareholders. This has additionally been the case in relation to Tesla,” the pension fund mentioned in an emailed assertion.

Ought to the fund assess that it’s not capable of exert enough affect on an organization, as has transpired with Tesla, it might resolve to exclude that enterprise’ shares from its holdings.

“Seen within the mild of the truth that the battle is now spreading to Denmark in addition to Tesla’s current very categorical refusal to signal an settlement in any nation, we’ve got come to the conclusion that we as traders presently hardly have the chance to affect the corporate. And that’s the reason we are actually placing Tesla on our exclusion checklist,” PensionDanmark added.

Tesla’s coverage of not pursuing collective bargaining is assembly a broad ideological stalemate — such agreements between employers and employees function a lynchpin for Scandinavian financial fashions, which assure employees the precise to barter wages, trip, time beyond regulation pay and different circumstances.

Tesla didn’t instantly reply to a CNBC request for remark.