According to news on December 9, a Swedish court has ruled not to support Tesla’s claim against the Swedish postal service for refusing to deliver license plates. The company’s conflict with the Scandinavian union has further deepened. In late November, workers at Swedish postal service PostNord refused to deliver license plates to Teslas in a show of support for striking mechanics over Tesla's refusal to sign a collective bargaining agreement with employees.
Tesla has taken legal action, with CEO Elon Musk calling the move "crazy," but a Swedish court has ruled that PostNord will not be forced to deliver license plates for Tesla for now.
However, Musk may be more worried about so-called "sympathy strikes" across Scandinavia, as other unions are uniting in support of Sweden's collective bargaining principles, which are key to industrial relations.
Union members across many industries in Sweden have joined a second strike action against members of the IFMetall union, which has been in a standoff with Tesla for about six weeks.
Earlier this week, Denmark's largest union announced it would join a sympathy strike to prevent Tesla cars from being shipped to Danish ports and transshipped to Sweden. Norway's largest private sector union announced on Wednesday that it intends to block car shipments to Sweden starting on December 20.
The Finnish Transport Workers Union AKT confirmed on Thursday that starting from December 20, all Finnish ports will also implement blockades on Tesla vehicles designated for shipment to Sweden. AKT Chairman Ismo Kokko said workers' collective agreements are "an important part of the Nordic labor market system".
At the same time, PensionDanmark, a large Danish pension fund, announced on Wednesday that it would sell its Tesla shares due to Tesla's refusal to reach an agreement with the union. There are reports that PensionDanmark sold the shares for 476 million Danish kroner (approximately $68.8 million).
PensionDanmark confirmed on Friday that its responsible investment approach is "based on international conventions and agreements, including the International Labor Organization Convention on labor rights".
"If a company fails to comply with our policies, we initially try to influence the company through our equity holdings, either directly or in partnership with other shareholders. The same is true for Tesla," the pension fund said in an emailed statement.
If the fund evaluates and finds that it cannot exert enough influence over a company, as happened with Tesla, it may decide to sell the company's stock from its holdings.
PensionDanmark added: "Given that the conflict is now spreading to Denmark and Tesla's recent very clear refusal to sign collective agreements in any country, we have concluded that we as investors currently have little opportunity to influence the company. In light of this, we have now decided to put Tesla shares on the sell list."
Tesla's policy of not pursuing collective bargaining is leaving it in a deadlock: Such agreements between employers and workers are key to the Scandinavian economic model, which guarantees workers the right to negotiate higher wages, overtime pay, more vacation time and other benefits.