Elon Musk has decried a wave of “insane” strikes focused on Tesla workshops in Sweden, as workers target the US electric car manufacturer in a strike calling for collective bargaining rights.

In what has been portrayed as the largest fight in decades to save Sweden’s union model from global labour practices, the powerful trade union IF Metall has been leading a strike across eight Tesla workplaces in Sweden for five weeks.

It is the first time workers for the US carmaker have gone on strike and on Thursday, Musk, the tech billionaire and chief executive of Tesla, made his feelings clear, writing on X, formerly Twitter: “This is insane.”

  • @WaxedWookie
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    4710 months ago

    “Waaaah my precious market forces are working against me.”

    They’ve seen 50-100% payrises in many cases - unions are important.

    • @[email protected]
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      -3010 months ago

      Unions that are bottom up organizations are important, Unions that are beholden to the political class are just a way to control us.

      • @WaxedWookie
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        4610 months ago

        Sure, I guess.

        Eating vegetables is good too - rotten vegetables are bad to eat though.

        • @sunbytes
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          1310 months ago

          Unions consisting entirely of Vampires and other human-flesh/blood consuming monsters of myth and legend are also bad.

          Because of the murders and the consuming of human flesh and blood.

          • Cosmic Cleric
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            010 months ago

            You forgot to mention also the mess that needs to be cleaned up.

        • @[email protected]
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          -1310 months ago

          Remember how the railroad workers trid to strike & congress shut them down? Unions in America are not like Unions in Europe.

          • @WaxedWookie
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            2110 months ago

            I’ll put my response aside and ask - What’s your point? Don’t unionise?

              • @WaxedWookie
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                10 months ago

                I don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other (though I think your binary framing of wildcat Vs corporatist is a little dishonest), but looking at the current Tesla dispute in Sweden, the effect is massive because it’s a cohesive, multi-sector strike. Seems like that’s a pretty effective case of “us” controlling “them”, no?

                • @[email protected]
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                  110 months ago

                  Yeah that the point the Swedish unions aren’t working in a framework that’s designed to give the political establishment control over the unions. If our ability to legally protest political matters could be vetoed by the people in power what effect do you think it would have on likelihood of effecting change through protect?

                  • @WaxedWookie
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                    110 months ago

                    That’s not a wildcat union, and those strikes were backed by Swedish courts - while I don’t strongly disagree with your point (it varies based on the applicable legislative landscape for one), this example proves the opposite of your point if anything.

                    Your binary framing is bad enough that it’s working against you, and your comprehension of the terms you’re using doesn’t help. Your underlying ideas aren’t terrible, but they are lacking nuance (see the binary framing) that means they only work in certain contexts such as a hostile legislative environment - not real world examples like Sweden.

          • @sunbytes
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            10 months ago

            The government is the bit that is different. The union is the same. They were just threatened more effectively.

        • Cosmic Cleric
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          1210 months ago

          Sometimes it’s not about the truth of the statement, but how it’s attempting to shape a certain narrative, that gets the vote, up or down.

          • @[email protected]
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            610 months ago

            This is exactly why I downvoted it. It’s a comment meant to disparage unions without appropriate context, a classic attack by bad faith actors.

            • Cosmic Cleric
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              110 months ago

              Yep. Scaring people with corruption is usually the number one way of trying to discourage people for wanting unions.

              And it’s funny that no other form of governance that can be susceptible to corruption is ever discussed in a discussion about unions.