The two-year Tesla strike

Summary

Business Daily (BBC World Service)

Episode: The Two-Year Tesla Strike

Date: October 27, 2025
Host: Tim Mansell

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Episode Overview

This episode, hosted by Tim Mansell, explores the ongoing labor strike by Tesla mechanics in Sweden, now reaching its two-year mark—the longest strike in modern Swedish history. The episode examines the causes, unique cultural tensions, and far-reaching implications of Tesla’s refusal to sign a collective agreement with Swedish unions, contrasting Swedish and American approaches to labor relations.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background: Tesla Mechanics’ Strike in Sweden

• Strike Anniversary: The strike began in late 2023, sparked by Tesla's refusal to recognize the trade union EF Metal’s right to negotiate a collective agreement on behalf of workers.
  (01:08, 02:33)
• Context: Collective agreements, covering roughly 90% of Swedish workers, set standards for pay and conditions and are central to Sweden’s labor peace. Strikes in Sweden are rare due to these agreements.
  (07:09)

2. Worker Perspectives and Motivation

• Early Enthusiasm: Mechanics like Yanis Kuzma and Adel Sefsefi joined Tesla inspired by its vision and innovation in electric vehicles.
  • “Most of us that started early in Tesla, we were also like big Tesla fans. We believed in the idea and the vision… so it was not only a job.” – Adel Sefsefi (01:27, 04:42)
• Shifting Culture: Over time, excitement gave way to frustration as management’s focus shifted to “just numbers and statistics,” and communication with workers deteriorated.
  • “There was no communication between the workers and management… And if they listen, there is no action or reaction.” – Adel Sefsefi (04:56)
• Grievances: Workers report arbitrary performance evaluations and lack of salary increases, despite going “overtime every day.”
  • “My last performance was like, Yanis, you are not reaching the Tesla goals and we can't give you no salary in this year… What kind of goals am I not reaching? If I stay overtime every day…?” – Yanis Kuzma (06:15)
• Call for Collective Bargaining: Instances of employees penalized for vague reasons (e.g., “wrong attitude”) amplify calls for formal negotiations and protections.
  (07:04)

3. Tesla’s Stance: Norm-Breaking and Union Avoidance

• Elon Musk’s Philosophy: Musk has consistently voiced opposition to unions:
  • “I just don't like anything which creates a lords and peasants sort of thing. And I think the unions naturally try to create negativity in a company and create a sort of lords and peasants situation.” – Elon Musk (01:36, 10:31)
• Company Actions: Tesla has replaced striking mechanics with new hires (“strikebreakers”)—a practice not illegal in Sweden but unprecedented and highly frowned upon within Sweden’s labor model.
  • “Basically, it hasn’t happened for the past hundred years… Tesla has openly said, if you guys go on strike, we will find other workers… They don’t use the word strikebreakers, but that’s what it means.” – Hermann Bender (14:02)
• Cultural Clash: The dispute underscores a collision between the Swedish collective agreement model and an American corporate culture that favors top-down managerial control.
  • “It’s also a conflict between the Swedish model and an American corporate culture which is more authoritarian and more managerial.” – Hermann Bender (14:29)

4. The Swedish Model & Institutional Responses

• Historical Context: Sweden’s labor peace comes from a near-century-old model: employers recognize unions’ right to organize, and unions respect employers’ right to hire and fire—keeping politicians out of labor negotiations.
  • “Employers and unions decided to sign an agreement… employers recognized the right of workers to organize in unions. And unions in turn recognized employers’ right to hire and fire.” – Hermann Bender (08:29)
• Stakeholder Views:
  • Employers and unions both wish to preserve the model, and most see the Tesla conflict as an exception, not a systemic threat.
  • “We prefer, and we would like to keep our right to negotiate freely with the unions and sign collective agreements.” – Matthias Dahl, Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (09:32)
  • “I don’t think it threatens our system… It’s in our own hands and I don’t see anybody who wants to change it.” – Matthias Dahl (10:15)

5. Union Strategy & The Progress of the Strike

• Union Tactics: EF Metal escalated from requests for negotiation to organizing a strike—a move that usually prompts most companies to concede. Tesla, however, has not.
  • “Usually it’s enough to make that threat. And then the company usually signs the collective agreement. But not this time.” – Marie Nielsen, EF Metal (13:21)
• Enforcement Limits: Not all mechanics walked out (initially ~50 of 130, now ~70), and Tesla has kept workshops open by hiring replacements.
  (13:21–14:02)
• External Solidarity: Other Scandinavian unions (dock workers, postal service, electrical workers) have blocked Tesla imports, license plate deliveries, and connections for new Tesla charging stations.
  (15:01–15:44)

6. Public Perception & Impact

• Impact on Daily Life: The majority of Swedish Tesla customers have not been affected; EV charging and servicing (save for a few holdout stations) continue largely unhindered.
  • “We can still buy our cars, we can service the cars, we can charge the cars. We are not affected at all.” – Tibor Blomhill, Tesla Club Sweden (16:31)
• Swedish Awareness: Most Swedes remain unaware the strike is still happening.
  • “Most of the regular Swedes I talk to are surprised that the conflict is still going on.” – Tibor Blomhill (17:04)
• Alternative Solutions: EF Metal suggested a third-party employment model (used by Amazon in Sweden), but Tesla has not responded.

7. Prospects for Resolution

• Stalemate: All parties interviewed (union, mechanics, Tesla advocates) see little chance of a swift resolution.
  • “I'm afraid this will be another Korean War… a conflict that just drags on and I don't see any quick solution to this.” – Tibor Blomhill (18:38–18:49)
• Union & Worker Endurance: EF Metal and the mechanics say they are prepared to continue as long as necessary, as long as there’s hope for progress.
  • “If I see that we are making progress, time is not an issue. But this is very important to see that we are going forward.” – Adel Sefsefi (19:25)
  • “We could continue as long as we have to.” – Marie Nielsen, EF Metal (19:44)
• Official Mediation Ends: In September, the Swedish Arbitration Service withdrew from the case, leaving the dispute unresolved and the parties “on their own.”
  (21:03)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Most of us that started early in Tesla, we were also like big Tesla fans… so it was not only a job.” – Adel Sefsefi (01:27, 04:42)
• “If I stay overtime every day, like two hours at least… and I was not only one who get no salary.” – Yanis Kuzma (06:15)
• “Tesla is not for everybody. If you are not happy, you… can just leave.” – HR Assistant, as recalled by Adel Sefsefi (05:34)
• “The reason… is that EF Metal have failed to get enough employees out on strike.” – Tibor Blomhill (17:15)
• “They don’t use the word strikebreakers, but that’s what it means… Tesla doesn’t care about norms. They see norm breaking as an ideal.” – Hermann Bender (14:02)
• “We could continue as long as we have to.” – Marie Nielsen, EF Metal (19:44)
• “The Swedish Arbitration Service… now, with no solution in prospect, [is] closing the case. In other words, Tesla and EF Matal are now on their own.” – Tim Mansell (21:03)

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Timeline of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | Speaker(s) | |-----------|---------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------| | 01:08 | Introduction to Swedish Tesla Strike | Tim Mansell | | 02:09 | Meet Yanis, Tesla Mechanic on Strike | Tim Mansell, Yanis Kuzma | | 03:59 | Adel’s Journey: VW to Tesla to Strike | Adel Sefsefi, Tim Mansell | | 07:09 | Importance of Collective Agreements | Tim Mansell | | 07:43 | Swedish Labor History & Model | Hermann Bender | | 09:32 | Employers’ View on Model’s Strength | Matthias Dahl, Conf. of Swedish Enterprise | | 10:31 | Elon Musk’s Philosophy on Unions | Elon Musk (archival) | | 12:39 | EF Metal’s Attempts to Negotiate | Marie Nielsen, Tim Mansell | | 14:02 | Strikebreaking Unprecedented in Sweden | Hermann Bender | | 15:01 | Broadening Support & Allied Union Action | Tim Mansell | | 16:31 | Impact on Tesla Owners & Swedish Public | Tibor Blomhill | | 19:25 | Workers’ Resolve to Continue | Adel Sefsefi, Tim Mansell | | 19:44 | EF Metal’s Willingness to Persist | Marie Nielsen, Tim Mansell | | 21:03 | Official Mediation Ends | Tim Mansell |

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Conclusion

The two-year Tesla strike highlights a deep clash between Swedish collective labor traditions and Tesla’s individualistic, American style of management. With no end in sight, the standoff continues to test the resilience of Sweden’s famed labor model and illustrates the profound impact of globalization on local workplace norms.

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For more in-depth coverage of business and labor stories around the world, search for "Business Daily" wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. I'm Tim Mansell. Today we're in Sweden, where this week they're marking the second anniversary of the longest strike in recent history. A handful of mechanics taking on the electric car company Tesla.

[E]

Most of us that started early in Tesla, we were also like big Tesla fans. We believed in the idea and the vision, you know, the whole thing. So it was not only a job.

[B]

You know, but there was the issue of trade union recognition. Most workers in Sweden are union members, but Tesla has refused to recognize the union's right to organize in its service centers. I just don't like anything which creates kind of a lords and peasants sort of thing. And I think the unions naturally try to create negativity in a company and create a sort of lords and peasants situation. That's all coming up on today's program. Yes, this is a recording, just so you know.

[E]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, Okay. I thought it would be good to record while we drive. This is Malmer in southern Sweden. The man picking me up is Yanis Kuzma, a man with a striking dark beard and a red woolly hat. And tell me what you're driving. What kind of car is this?

[E]

This is a Tesla.

[B]

What kind of Tesla?

[E]

Tesla Model Y Performance 2022.

[B]

Malmo is the third biggest city in Sweden, a port city just over the water from Denmark. Yiannis is Taking me out of the suburbs to a Tesla service center. So it's now just after 7:30 in the morning. What time does the open? Yiannis is a Tesla mechanic, but he's not here to work. Instead, he's going to spend the day outside in a high vis vest that tells anyone who wants to know that he's on strike. It's a strike over something very fundamental, the right of a trade union to negotiate on behalf of its members. The company he's challenging is run by the richest man in the world, who appears to have no interest at all in negotiation. I disagree with the idea of unions, but perhaps for a reason that is different than people may expect. Elon Musk disagrees with the idea of unions. He made his views clear at an event in New York at the end of 2023. At that point, the strike in Sweden was only a couple of months old. Now it's reached its second anniversary, the longest strike in modern Swedish history. Yiannis is a member of the metal workers union, EF Metal. The union provides the pickets with a builder's van where they can make coffee and keep warm. Yiannis is here today with a colleague, Adel Sefsefi.

[E]

I joined Tesla in October or something, 2018, I think.

[B]

And before that, who did you work for?

[E]

I worked for Volkswagen.

[B]

So why did you move to Tesla in that time?

[E]

Because Tesla was the only company that did electric car. I was interested in electric cars because it was obviously the next big thing.

[B]

What was your experience of working for Tesla?

[E]

It was exciting. It was good. It was a lot of work, but it was exciting. New technology, interesting new company. We had this feeling that we are part of a bigger project and we are doing our best to help Tesla succeed.

[B]

You've got a big smile on your face. You're very enthusiastic.

[E]

Yes, because all of us here, or most of us that started early in Tesla, we were also like big Tesla fans. We believed in the idea and the vision, you know, the whole thing. So it was not only a job, you know.

[B]

So what changed then?

[E]

Unfortunately, with the time, things changed. In the start, they were trying to make the workers happy as much as possible, to provide like, good benefits, good work environment, good work conditions, everything. But then gradually the only focus was just numbers and, yeah, statistics. And it become very obvious that there was no communication between the workers and management. Simply, they don't listen. And if they listen, there is no action or reaction or anything.

[B]

Adol remembers the day they had a visit from a senior human resources manager.

[E]

We Talked for maybe 20 or 30 minutes she listened and in the end she didn't say any word. And last comment, it was from her assistant. She told us, you know, simply, Tesla is not for everybody. If you are not happy, you can. And she just, you can just leave.

[B]

The van stands on the opposite side of the road to the Tesla service center. It seems to be business as usual over there. Yanis stands and watches. He too remembers the apparently arbitrary way decisions were made at Tesla.

[E]

My last performance was like, Yanis, you are not reaching the Tesla goals and we can't give you no salary in this year. Like, you are not going up, you will get zero. I was like, are you serious? Like the petrol, the electricity, the food, everything is going up and I get nothing. And like, what kind of goals I am not reaching? Like, if I stay overtime every day, like two hours at least. And I was not only one who get no salary.

[B]

What did they say? What goals were you not reaching?

[E]

I don't know. Others also have the same situation. This one guy, he won competition, like the most fixed car in one month or something. Then he didn't get arranged because he had the wrong attitude, whatever that means.

[B]

He had the wrong attitude.

[E]

Yeah. I don't know what that means, you know, that's why we need to have the collective agreement.

[B]

The collective agreement negotiated between employers and unions representing workers is a crucial pillar of industrial culture in Sweden. Almost 90% of Swedish workers are covered by such an agreement which regulates pay and conditions. One important feature of these agreements is that workers cannot go on strike while they're in force, which means that in Sweden strikes are rather unusual. It wasn't always like that.

[D]

A hundred years ago, Sweden was one of the most tumultuous labour markets in the world.

[B]

This is Herman Bender. He's a research analyst at Arena Idea, a union funded think tank in Stockholm.

[D]

So we had many, many strikes. Workers were very unruly and employers were very hostile towards unions. And there were constant conflicts between unions and employers. And this came to a point when it was unsustainable for both parties.

[B]

The level of violence was simply too high. It culminated in a notorious incident in 1931 during a strike by workers in the paper industry. The army had been called in to protect a group of strikebreakers. The soldiers opened fire on a demonstration in support of the strike and killed five people.

[D]

So in 1938, the employers and the unions decided to sign an agreement which sort of established a basic framework for labor relations in Sweden. In principle, the key compromise was that employers recognized the right of workers to organize in unions. And unions in turn recognize employers right to hire and fire people. That agreement is still in force in Sweden and has become almost a kind of cultural norm that underpins labour markets.

[B]

It's what's known as the Swedish Model Agreement on labour market regulations between employers and unions, excluding politicians, excluding the need to legislate. The unions like this system and so do the employers. The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise occupies a large square office building in central Stockholm. I met the deputy director general, Matthias Dahl.

[D]

We prefer, and we would like to keep our right to negotiate freely with the unions and sign collective agreements.

[B]

I think Sweden is proud of its industrial record over the last several decades in which there are relatively few days lost because of striking workers.

[D]

That is correct. It's very good. I mean, from a business point of view, strikes are very bad. You don't make any money on that. So we are very much into having a cost, calm and foreseeable labor market where go to work and we can develop the business in Sweden. So that's key for us.

[B]

Do you think this conflict threatens the institution of collective agreement?

[D]

No, I don't think so. It's only one conflict. I don't think that it threatens our system. Our system has been around for 100 years and both parties and the whole of parliament wants to keep its. So it's in our own hands and I don't see anybody who wants to change it.

[B]

Tesla may not want to change the system, but it appears to have no intention of becoming part of it. Here's Elon Musk again, speaking back in 2023. I just don't like anything which creates kind of a lords and peasants sort of thing. And I think the unions naturally try to create negativity in a company and create a sort of lords and peasants situation. You're listening to Business Daily from the BBC World Service.

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[B]

I'm Tim Mansell and today we're in Sweden, where Tesla car mechanics have been on strike for two years. Tesla has a showroom on a busy junction here in central Stockholm. There's a red Model 3 on show in the window and the trade union EF Metal has its headquarters quite literally round the corner. My phone tells me that it's a three minute walk. And yet in every other respect, these two organisations could hardly be further apart.

[C]

We try to sit down with the company and discuss collective agreement as we always do.

[B]

This is Marie Nielsen, the president of EF Metal.

[C]

But they wouldn't respond and we got the impression that they tried to hide away or not discuss this with us.

[B]

So the union moved to the next.

[C]

Stage when a company refused to start to negotiate and sign a collective agreement. Then we have the possibility to announce that we are going on strike. And usually it's enough to make that threat. And then the company usually signed the.

[B]

Collective agreement, but not this time. And disappointingly for the union, when the strike did actually start, not everyone at Tesla downed tools. It was employing around 130 mechanics at the time the strike started. Not all of them were in the union. EF Mittal says around 50 mechanics came out at the beginning and there are now nearer 70 out on strike. But the strike hasn't succeeded in closing the workshops because Tesla has responded by replacing its striking workers with others. Which, says the researcher Hermann Bender, is highly unusual in Sweden today.

[D]

Basically, it hasn't happened for the past hundred years. I mean, it's happened on occasion, but it hasn't happened systematically the way Tesla does it. And also it hasn't happened as openly as it has in this case. I mean, Tesla has openly said that, okay, if you guys go on strike, we will find other workers. They don't use the word strikebreakers, but that's what it means.

[B]

Strike breaking, it's important to say, is not illegal in Sweden, but it goes.

[D]

Against all established norms and it's something that no Swedish employer would do. But Tesla doesn't care about norms. Rather, I would say they see norm breaking as an ideal. They want to be norm breakers. And that's a dimension that's important to understand in this dispute. It's not only a dispute between an employer and a union, but it's also a conflict between the Swedish model and an American corporate culture which is more authoritarian and more managerial.

[B]

EF Mittal may not have persuaded all the mechanics at Tesla to come out on strike, but it has attracted plenty of support from other unions, and not only in Sweden. So dock workers in Denmark, Norway and Finland are refusing to handle Teslas. The Swedish postal union stopped deliveries, which meant that registration plates couldn't get to new Tesla owners. And here, a few miles north of Stockholm, out near the airport, a group of Tesla chargers, some in plastic covers, stand forlorn. The workers responsible for connecting this charging station to the grid have been forbidden by their union to do so.

[F]

It was built a couple of months ago, perhaps two months ago, and Tesla has now about a dozen such stations around in Sweden that they have built. But they cannot turn on.

[B]

The man who's driven me up here in his Tesla Model Y is Tibor Blumhill. He's the president of Tesla Club Sweden. It's a club for Tesla owners, but also for anyone interested in electric cars. Tesla turned down my request for an interview about the strike. So, like several other journalists over the last couple of years, I call Thibault. He says that Tesla customers have barely even noticed the strike.

[F]

We can still buy our cars, we can service the cars, we can charge the cars. We are not affected at all. These charging stations that are not allowed to be connected to the grid affects us in the long term. But right Now, I mean, 10 kilometers from this charging station, there is another one.

[B]

So let's talk about the strike. What effect has this strike had on Sweden? Are Swedes noticing this?

[F]

Swedes in general? No. Actually, most of the regular Swedes I talk to are surprised that the conflict is still going on.

[B]

And why is the conflict still going on?

[F]

The main problem in this conflict and the reason why it has been going on in two years now, is that EF Metal have failed to get enough employees out on strike.

[B]

I've read, Thibault, that you have some kind of hotline to Tesla in the United States. What are you hearing from la?

[F]

Well, it's a one way hotline, so I'm not really hearing anything there. I once used this channel to make sure that the Tesla Corporation in the USA knows about a solution that EF Metal has suggested, that instead of Tesla having their employees and have a collective bargain. They could accept a solution when the test employees are employed by a third company, an external company, and that company has a collective agreement.

[B]

This sort of third party model is one that Amazon follows in Sweden.

[F]

So I forwarded this information, but I haven't heard anything in response.

[B]

It's been two years now. How long is this going to continue?

[F]

I'm afraid this will be another Korean War. How long has it standstill been in north and South Korea now?

[B]

50 years. Another Korean War?

[F]

Well, war is a very strong word, but a conflict that just drags on and I don't see any quick solution to this.

[B]

It's late afternoon in Malmo and Yanis and Adel are locking up after their day on picket duty till tomorrow.

[E]

Tomorrow some other strike member will open this and be all day here.

[B]

So, Adol, how long are you prepared to carry on doing this?

[E]

The biggest factor is how much progress, progress we will make. If I see that we are making progress, time is not an issue. But this is very important to see that we are going forward.

[B]

Back in Stockholm, I asked Marie Nielsen, the head of the union, the same question. How long could EF Matal continue?

[C]

It's a very difficult question. We could continue as long as we have to.

[B]

I mean, at an institutional level I understand that. But if you are a, I don't know, 30 year old who hasn't been to work for two years, there must be a limit to your tolerance of that. There must be a moment when you think, I need to go back to work, to do something, to be the person I want to be.

[C]

Absolutely, absolutely. But we have a close collaboration with them and when they say that they don't want to do this anymore, then we could discuss this. But so far we haven't had that signals.

[B]

I'm sort of trying to put myself in that position when I was 30. When you were 30?

[C]

Absolutely. I'm really, really impressed that they are still eager to continue, but I think they are really feeling that they are doing an important thing to get these very special employers to understand that in Sweden we have collective agreement and that the way we do it here, it's.

[B]

Kind of hard to see Tesla giving in.

[C]

Yeah, so far it's hard to see, but yeah, we will see.

[B]

It really is hard to see. In September, the Swedish Arbitration service, which had been trying to help, issued a quiet statement. Its author said this matter was unlike any other he dealt with in his 10 years as a mediator and that now, with no solution in prospect, he was closing the case. In other words, Tesla and EF Matal are now on their own. That's all from Business Daily, produced and presented by me, Tim Mansell. Thanks for listening. To hear more, just search for Business Daily wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.

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