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In Sweden, approximately 70 car mechanics continue to challenge one of the world's wealthiest companies – the electric vehicle manufacturer. The industrial action at the US carmaker's 10 Scandinavian service centers has now reached its second anniversary, and there is minimal sign for a settlement.

One striking worker has been on the Tesla protest line since October 2023.

"It has been a tough period," remarks the worker in his late thirties. And as the nation's chilly winter weather arrives, it is expected to become even tougher.

Janis devotes each Monday alongside a colleague, standing near an electric vehicle garage on a business district in Malmö. His union, IF Metall, supplies accommodation via a portable builders' van, plus coffee & light meals.

However it remains business as usual nearby, where the service facility seems to operate in full swing.

The strike involves a matter that reaches to the core of Swedish industrial culture – the authority of trade unions to bargain for pay & conditions representing their workforce. This concept of collective agreement has supported industrial relations in Sweden for almost one hundred years.

Currently approximately seventy percent of Swedish employees belong to labor organizations, while ninety percent fall under under negotiated labor contracts. Labor stoppages in Sweden are rare.

It's a system welcomed by all parties. "We prefer the right to negotiate freely with worker representatives and establish collective agreements," states a business representative of the Confederation of Swedish Businesses employer group.

But the electric car company has disrupted the apple cart. Outspoken chief executive the company leader has said he "opposes" with the idea of unions. "I just disapprove of anything which creates a sort of hierarchical sort of thing," he told an audience at an event last year. "I think the unions try to generate negativity within businesses."

Tesla came to Sweden starting in the mid-2010s, while the metalworkers' union has long wanted to establish a labor contract with the automaker.

"Yet they did not reply," states Marie Nilsson, the union's president. "We formed the impression that they attempted to avoid or evade discussing the matter with us."

She states the organization ultimately found no alternative except to announce a strike, beginning in late October, last year. "Usually it's enough to issue a warning," says the union leader. "The company usually agrees to the agreement."

But not on this occasion.

Janis Kuzma, originally of Latvian origin, began employment with the automaker several years ago. He asserts that pay & conditions frequently dependent on the discretion of supervisors.

He recalls an evaluation meeting at which he says he was denied an annual pay rise on grounds he was "not reaching Tesla's goals". Meanwhile, a colleague was reported to be rejected for increased compensation due to having an "inappropriate demeanor".

Nevertheless, not everyone went out on strike. Tesla had some 130 mechanics employed when the industrial action was initiated. IF Metall states that today approximately 70 of its members are on strike.

Tesla has since replaced the striking workers with new workers, a situation there is no precedent since the era of the Great Depression.

"Tesla has accomplished this [found replacement staff] publicly and methodically," states German Bender, an analyst at a research institute, a think tank supported by Swedish trade unions.

"It is not against the law, this being important to understand. However it goes against all established norms. But Tesla shows no concern for conventions.

"They want to be norm breakers. So if somebody tells them, listen, you are breaking a standard, they perceive this as a compliment."

The company's Swedish subsidiary declined requests for comment in an email citing "all-time high vehicle shipments".

Indeed, the company has granted only one media interview during the entire period after the strike started.

Earlier this year, the local division's "national manager, Jens Stark, informed a financial publication that it suited the organization better not to have a collective agreement, and rather "to collaborate directly with the team and provide them the best possible terms".

Mr Stark rejected that the decision not to enter a labor contract was determined at Tesla headquarters in the US. "Our division possesses a mandate to make our own such choices," he stated.

IF Metall is not entirely isolated in this conflict. The strike has been supported from several of labor organizations.

Port workers in nearby Scandinavian nations, Norway & Finland, decline to process the company's vehicles; rubbish is no longer collected from Tesla's Swedish facilities; and recently constructed power points are not being linked to the grid across the nation.

There is one such facility near Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where twenty chargers stand idle. However Tibor Blomhäll, the leader of enthusiasts group Tesla Club Sweden, states vehicle owners remain unaffected by the strike.

"There exists an alternative power point 10km from here," he comments. "Plus we are able to still buy our cars, we can service our vehicles, we can power our cars."

With stakes significant for all parties, it's hard to envision an end to the deadlock. The union risks establishing a pattern if it concedes the fundamental concept of collective agreement.

"The concern is that that would spread," states Mr Bender, "and ultimately {erode