Tesla factory workers in Sweden have been on strike for over a year and a half

Could the recent positions of the CEO of Tesla, Space X and X (ex-Twitter) finally have a price? In any case, the calls for a boycott seem to have a real impact on Elon Musk's business. In France, Tesla sales fell by 63% in January 2025. In Sweden, the same phenomenon: 44% fewer sales in January.

In Sweden, employees of the same boss have been on strike for over a year and a half now, because Elon Musk refuses to sign the country's collective agreements on wages. Many charging stations are therefore no longer supplied with electricity. However, the country is particularly in demand for electric cars. In 2024, the market share of electric vehicles in the kingdom was 58.4%. That year, the best-selling car in the country was a Tesla model, despite an ongoing strike against the manufacturer.

This strike that is dragging on is now the longest strike that the country has experienced in a century. It is therefore unprecedented for this country of dialogue where in general a compromise is always found. The fault is perhaps that of a group that is not used to local customs. In Sweden, 9 out of 10 employees benefit from a collective agreement; a country where there is no minimum wage. It is precisely the unions that set salaries, negotiate increases, the amount of pensions, or even working conditions: everything goes through social dialogue. A model that Tesla clearly does not adhere to. With this strike, it is in a way the integrity of the entire Swedish system that the strikers are defending.

This is why no agreement has been reached so far, while the standoff between the IF Metall union and Tesla continues. This strike even provoked a large inter-professional boycott at the start : for example, postmen stopped delivering mail or license plates to Tesla, and dockers stopped unloading cars arriving by boat. Inter-union solidarity therefore, but also cross-border solidarity since the strike spread to Denmark, Finland and Norway.

If the strike is slowing down somewhat after a year and a half, it is also because Tesla brought in what are called "strike breakers", that is to say workers " detached " from other European countries to replace the Swedish strikers. Sweden and the unions, not used to this kind of subterfuge, were caught off guard.