Tesla faces pressure from supplier workers on strike in Sweden

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) — Tesla is facing increasing pressure in Sweden from a pro-mechanic union to reach a collective bargaining agreement with the US automaker, and workers at one of its suppliers will go on strike next week.

Tesla has no manufacturing plants in Sweden, but its electric vehicles provide maintenance services in workshops across the country, and around 130 mechanics from the Swedish trade union IF Metall began a strike on October 27.

Dockers and car dealers soon joined them, refusing to dispose of Tesla products.

A spokesman for Hydro Extrusions, a subsidiary of Norwegian aluminum and energy company Hydro, said the company's roughly 50 union workers will stop producing Tesla car products next Friday. The spokesperson added that the rest of the plant in the city of Vetlanda will continue to operate.

Hydro Extractions' Vetlanda plant produces aluminum profiles — turning aluminum into shape, and is the first Tesla supplier in Sweden to drop tools to support the mechanics' strike.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The union said the automaker told IF Metall on November 6 that it did not want to sign a collective agreement.

IF Metall spokesperson Jesper Pettersson said: “We want Tesla Sweden to sign a collective agreement... We want this conflict to be as brief as possible.”

German trade unions are pressuring the automaker to implement a similar agreement for its 11,000 workers in Glenheide near Berlin.

Earlier this month, the company raised wages by 4%, but German trade union IG Metall claims wages are still around 20% lower than those stipulated in the collective agreement.