The labor dispute over Tesla’s refusal to sign a collective wage agreement in Sweden has escalated into a dramatic labor battle.
Unions representing multiple industries announced this week that they would join the strike in solidarity with IF Metall, the Tesla mechanics’ trade union.
The standoff started in late October with a walkout led by IF Metall.
In Sweden, which doesn’t have minimum wage legislation for workers, about 90% of employees are covered by collective agreements involving unions and employers.
IF Metall describes the agreements as “the backbone of the Swedish model” and said it’s been trying to negotiate one with Tesla for the last five years.
The union said Tesla wages are below the industry average in Sweden, and it wants to secure better pensions and insurance guarantees.
If only American workers had this kind of solidarity and stood up for themselves.
Nope all we get is “I’ll be damned if the guy flipping burgers makes as much as me!”.
And then laughing at what a loser he is while he makes your burger.
I’ve never heard a person express this sentiment
My father and numerous family members of mine have expressed it verbatim, count yourself lucky
There’s a part of society fully lost to crab mentality
I grew up in crab land, and I wish I just meant Maryland’s delightful seafood specialty.
Walk like crabs, look like people . .
Then you haven’t been listening
I think that’s a reference to the meme that was like “I will be damned if a burger flipper makes as much as my skilled labor of filling boxes at Amazon.”
No, people say this unironically.
I literally have heard people complain that someone else got a raise in another industry, and the peron getting a raise was still making less than them. They figured because they worked a service job they didn’t deserve more than minimum wage.
It’s a Midwest US chant by this point.
It’s a lot easier when there is infrastructure to support people and their health regardless of their employment status. Solidarity doesn’t mean shit when you get fired and replaced by scabs, your family loses it’s healthcare, you can’t afford rent anymore and get evicted. But that’s all by design.
Solidarity strikes aren’t legal here
I believe that all types of strikes should be legal. What other option do you have to defend yourself?
Solidarity strikes are about defending others though. After the labor movement ended and we got weekends and less (not zero) child labor, it quickly became illegal to strike for another industry.