Tesla has filed a lawsuit against the Swedish government's Transport Agency over a workers' strike that has blocked the U.S. auto maker's requests for license plates for new vehicles, business daily Dagens Industri reported on Monday.
The remaining 10% consist of the Tesla employees that are at the heart of this. They don’t want CBAs because they already get paid better than what the unions can offer and have better conditions, so they have refused to participate in the strikes proposed by the unions.
The unions hence decided to force them into CBAs and got other companies unions to strike to try and force it when they didn’t participate.
Unions in Sweden are just the mafia being the mafia and trying to enforce their protection racket.
Hopefully Tesla just goes and picks up the license plates directly from the transportation department and continues to ignore them.
The remaining 10% consist of the Tesla employees that are at the heart of this. They don’t want CBAs because they already get paid better than what the unions can offer and have better conditions, so they have refused to participate in the strikes proposed by the unions.
They don’t want CBAs because they already get paid better than what the unions can offer and have better conditions, so they have refused to participate in the strikes proposed by the unions.
The unions hence decided to force them into CBAs and got other companies unions to strike to try and force it when they didn’t participate.
Except that CBAs only set the minimum. This isn’t the same as a union contract in the US. Every employee still negotiates their pay on an individual level, so this is all bullshit.
Hopefully Tesla just goes and picks up the license plates directly from the transportation department and continues to ignore them.
That would be illegal, but even if it were to happen, the strike would just spread to Transportstyrelsen itself and no plates would be allowed to be produced in the first place.
Well Tesla has done just that and gone and picked the plates up themselves. the Swedish courts just ruled that they must be allowed to do this.
They don’t want CBAs. You can perform mental acrobatics to justify them as much as you like, but the fact remains that they don’t want them because they are worse than their current arrangements. Forcing them on them is nothing more than a protection rackets.
Well Tesla has done just that and gone and picked the plates up themselves. the Swedish courts just ruled that they must be allowed to do this.
They haven’t picked up anything yet, and the court only granted them a preliminary injunction. They haven’t ruled on the case yet. Also Transportstyrelsen haven’t decided how to respond to the ruling yet. They could very well just decide to pay the fine instead.
No matter how much you defend them. I’m here to tell u the unions are nothing more than the modern day mafia and this is nothing more than a protection racket.
I love when conservatives incorrectly appropriate terms invented by liberals/progressives like a cargo cult. You should build some superchargers out of coconuts, that’ll definitely get you the approval you so desperately crave.
But to seriously address your point, of course it’s a protection racket, in that the union exists to protect their membership. Just like corporations exist to protect their investors. Just like the mafia existed to protect Italian immigrants who were being discriminated against. The issue with the mafia was never that they banded together to ensure the best possible outcomes for members; it was the use of violent, illegal, and antisocial actions to promote that cause (e.g. beating up rival workers and scabs, selling drugs and robbing stores for income, killing political and economic enemies, etc.)
The point of a union is to use all legal pathways to ensure the best possible outcome for union members. Period. That’s their job. They’re needed because the point of a corporation is to use all legal pathways to ensure the greatest possible returns for shareholders. This goal (of corporations) is often at odds with the needs of workers, and corporations have significant systemic advantages over individual workers - more capital to deploy, better legal representation, more amplification of their message, more ability to influence market wages, etc.
Most of the Tesla technicians working in Sweden belong to IF Metall. Most of those members voted to use the union to negotiate a CBA, and to then strike if those negotiations stall. Unions don’t just get to go in and decide to negotiate on behalf of workers who aren’t union membership. That’s not how any of this works.
Does that mean that every Tesla worker is for this union? Obviously not. Not all Tesla workers in Sweden belong to IF Metall, and the ones that don’t aren’t on strike. And it’s even possible that some IF Metall workers at Tesla aren’t in favor of striking, or that there are technicians working for Tesla that aren’t IF Metall members who don’t want a CBA or a strike. But unfortunately for them, the way representative democratic organizations like unions work is that a single individual or small group can’t override the will of the majority.
And as a side note, it’s telling that here in the US where our unions have largely been beaten and left for dead, all of the cases of individuals “standing up for their rights to not join a union” have been very narrowly made to ensure that the freerider assholes who don’t want to be in a union still benefit from union-negotiated collective bargaining agreements. All of our “right to work” laws make it explicitly illegal to provide lower pay or benefits to non-members not involved in the CBA. So really, it’s just a bunch of cheap assholes who want the benefits without paying the price.
This lower court decision was not known when I wrote my comment. And even if it was, it’s an interim decision that Transportstyrelsen still hasn’t acted on, Tesla is still not allowed to pick up their plates at this point in time.
It will be interesting to see how transportstyrelsen eventually responds and what will be decided in the higher courts.
The remaining 10% consist of the Tesla employees that are at the heart of this. They don’t want CBAs because they already get paid better than what the unions can offer and have better conditions, so they have refused to participate in the strikes proposed by the unions.
The unions hence decided to force them into CBAs and got other companies unions to strike to try and force it when they didn’t participate.
Unions in Sweden are just the mafia being the mafia and trying to enforce their protection racket.
Hopefully Tesla just goes and picks up the license plates directly from the transportation department and continues to ignore them.
Except that CBAs only set the minimum. This isn’t the same as a union contract in the US. Every employee still negotiates their pay on an individual level, so this is all bullshit.
That would be illegal, but even if it were to happen, the strike would just spread to Transportstyrelsen itself and no plates would be allowed to be produced in the first place.
Well Tesla has done just that and gone and picked the plates up themselves. the Swedish courts just ruled that they must be allowed to do this.
They don’t want CBAs. You can perform mental acrobatics to justify them as much as you like, but the fact remains that they don’t want them because they are worse than their current arrangements. Forcing them on them is nothing more than a protection rackets.
They haven’t picked up anything yet, and the court only granted them a preliminary injunction. They haven’t ruled on the case yet. Also Transportstyrelsen haven’t decided how to respond to the ruling yet. They could very well just decide to pay the fine instead.
No matter how much you defend him, I’m here to tell you that Elon Musk will not sleep with you.
No matter how much you defend them. I’m here to tell u the unions are nothing more than the modern day mafia and this is nothing more than a protection racket.
I love when conservatives incorrectly appropriate terms invented by liberals/progressives like a cargo cult. You should build some superchargers out of coconuts, that’ll definitely get you the approval you so desperately crave.
But to seriously address your point, of course it’s a protection racket, in that the union exists to protect their membership. Just like corporations exist to protect their investors. Just like the mafia existed to protect Italian immigrants who were being discriminated against. The issue with the mafia was never that they banded together to ensure the best possible outcomes for members; it was the use of violent, illegal, and antisocial actions to promote that cause (e.g. beating up rival workers and scabs, selling drugs and robbing stores for income, killing political and economic enemies, etc.)
The point of a union is to use all legal pathways to ensure the best possible outcome for union members. Period. That’s their job. They’re needed because the point of a corporation is to use all legal pathways to ensure the greatest possible returns for shareholders. This goal (of corporations) is often at odds with the needs of workers, and corporations have significant systemic advantages over individual workers - more capital to deploy, better legal representation, more amplification of their message, more ability to influence market wages, etc.
Most of the Tesla technicians working in Sweden belong to IF Metall. Most of those members voted to use the union to negotiate a CBA, and to then strike if those negotiations stall. Unions don’t just get to go in and decide to negotiate on behalf of workers who aren’t union membership. That’s not how any of this works.
Does that mean that every Tesla worker is for this union? Obviously not. Not all Tesla workers in Sweden belong to IF Metall, and the ones that don’t aren’t on strike. And it’s even possible that some IF Metall workers at Tesla aren’t in favor of striking, or that there are technicians working for Tesla that aren’t IF Metall members who don’t want a CBA or a strike. But unfortunately for them, the way representative democratic organizations like unions work is that a single individual or small group can’t override the will of the majority.
And as a side note, it’s telling that here in the US where our unions have largely been beaten and left for dead, all of the cases of individuals “standing up for their rights to not join a union” have been very narrowly made to ensure that the freerider assholes who don’t want to be in a union still benefit from union-negotiated collective bargaining agreements. All of our “right to work” laws make it explicitly illegal to provide lower pay or benefits to non-members not involved in the CBA. So really, it’s just a bunch of cheap assholes who want the benefits without paying the price.
Except they aren’t allowed to do that, they would already be doing it if it was an option.
The Swedish courts say otherwise:
https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/Mo0V85/tesla-far-ut-sina-registreringsskyltar
And they are doing that.
This lower court decision was not known when I wrote my comment. And even if it was, it’s an interim decision that Transportstyrelsen still hasn’t acted on, Tesla is still not allowed to pick up their plates at this point in time.
It will be interesting to see how transportstyrelsen eventually responds and what will be decided in the higher courts.