The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Swedish Enterprise), an employers’ organization, has expressed concerns that the ongoing strike and blockades being implemented against Tesla in Sweden may give bad publicity to the country. The comments were shared by Jan-Olof Jacke, the Director-General of the employers’ organization.
Swedish Enterprise is a powerful entity in Sweden, having 49 member associations representing 60,000 member companies that have collective agreements. It is the counterpart of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), which has previously stated that it was prepared to drive Tesla out of Sweden if the EV maker does not sign a collective agreement.
So far, IF Metall has escalated its efforts against the EV maker. As of late, Tesla no longer gets cleaning at any of its workshops and offices, and its charging stations will no longer be maintained, as noted in a CarUp report. A Swedish supplier of parts for the Model Y also shared its intentions to stop supplying Giga Berlin.
Amidst the escalating conflict, the Swedish Enterprise Director-General has commented on the strike. In a comment, Jan-Olof Jacke noted that the measures being undertaken against Tesla are becoming unreasonable. The executive also noted that he fears that Sweden and the Swedish model would get bad publicity if Tesla is indeed forced to leave the country due to strikes and blockades.
“The sympathy measures that we are now seeing are starting to be clearly bigger than the goal that (they) want to achieve. It is not reasonable,” Jan-Olof Jacke said.
And while Swedish Enterprise also represents companies that have collective agreements, the executive noted that businesses should have free choice if they wish to sign agreements or not. Instead of intimidation tactics, Jan-Olof Jacke stated that collective agreements should be so compelling that companies like Tesla would prefer them.
“It must be Tesla’s choice. Our task is that the collective agreements should be so attractive that the companies want to join,” he said.
Tesla’s electric vehicles are part of Swedish Enterprise’s company car program. In an apparent show of support for Tesla, Swedish Enterprise stated that it would not stop its purchases of the company’s electric vehicles due to the strike.
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