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Across Sweden, approximately 70 car technicians continue to confront one of the globe's wealthiest companies – the electric vehicle manufacturer. This industrial action targeting the US automaker's 10 Swedish repair facilities has currently reached its second anniversary, and there is little indication for a resolution.

Janis Kuzma has remained at the Tesla picket line starting from the autumn of 2023.

"It has been a tough time," states the worker in his late thirties. And as Sweden's cold seasonal conditions sets in, it is expected to grow even tougher.

The mechanic spends each Monday with a fellow worker, standing near a Tesla garage on a business district in Malmö. The labor organization, the Swedish metalworkers' union, supplies accommodation via a mobile builders' van, as well as coffee & light meals.

However it's business as usual across the road, where the service facility appears to operate at full capacity.

This industrial action concerns an issue that goes to the heart of Swedish labor traditions – the authority for worker organizations to negotiate wages & working terms representing their workforce. This principle of negotiated labor contracts has supported labor dynamics across the nation for nearly one hundred years.

Today approximately 70% of Swedish employees are members of a trade union, while 90% fall under under negotiated labor contracts. Strikes in Sweden are rare.

This is a system welcomed by all parties. "We favor the ability to negotiate directly with the unions and establish labor contracts," says a business representative from the Association of Swedish Businesses employer group.

However the electric car company has upset established practices. Vocal chief executive the company leader has said he "opposes" with the concept of labor organizations. "I simply disapprove of anything that establishes a kind of lords and peasants sort of thing," he informed an audience in New York last year. "I think the unions attempt to generate negativity within businesses."

Tesla entered the Scandinavian market starting in the mid-2010s, and the metalworkers' union has for years sought to establish a collective agreement with the automaker.

"But they did not reply," states Marie Nilsson, the organization's president. "We formed the belief that they attempted to hide away or not discuss this with our representatives."

She says the organization eventually saw no alternative than to call industrial action, beginning in late October, 2023. "Usually the threat suffices to issue the threat," says Ms Nilsson. "The company typically signs the agreement."

But this did not happen in this case.

Janis Kuzma, who is from Latvia, started working for Tesla several years ago. He asserts that wages & work terms frequently dependent on the whim of supervisors.

He remembers a performance review where he states he was denied a salary increase because he was "failing to meet Tesla's goals". At the same time, a coworker was reported to be rejected for increased compensation because having an "inappropriate demeanor".

However, not everyone went out in the industrial action. Tesla employed approximately 130 technicians working at the time the industrial action was called. IF Metall says currently around 70 of its members are participating in the action.

The automaker has since substituted the striking workers with replacement staff, a situation there is not occurred since the era of the 1930s.

"Tesla has done it [found replacement staff] publicly & systematically," states German Bender, an analyst at Arena Idé, a think tank supported by Swedish trade unions.

"It is not illegal, this being important to recognize. But it goes against all established practices. But Tesla shows no concern for conventions.

"They want to be norm breakers. Thus when anyone informs them, listen, you are violating a standard, they perceive this as a compliment."

The company's local division declined attempts for comment in an email mentioning "all-time high vehicle shipments".

In fact, the automaker has given only one media interview in the two years since the strike started.

Earlier this year, the Swedish subsidiary's "country lead", Jens Stark, told a business paper that it benefited the company better to avoid a union contract, and instead "to work closely with employees and give workers the best possible conditions".

Mr Stark rejected that the decision to avoid a collective agreement was determined by US leadership in the US. "Our division possesses a mandate to take independent such choices," he said.

The union is not entirely alone in this conflict. The strike has been supported by a number of other unions.

Port workers in nearby Scandinavian nations, Norway & neighboring states, decline to process the company's vehicles; rubbish is no longer removed from the automaker's Swedish facilities; and recently constructed charging stations are not being linked to the grid in the country.

There is one such facility close to Stockholm Arlanda Airport, at which 20 charging units remain unused. But Tibor Blomhäll, the leader of an owner's club the Swedish Tesla association, states vehicle owners are unaffected by the labor dispute.

"There exists an alternative power point 10km from this location," he comments. "And we can still buy our cars, we can service our cars, we can power our cars."

With consequences significant for all parties, it's hard to envision a resolution to the stand-off. IF Metall faces the danger of setting a precedent if it concedes the principle of collective agreement.

"The concern is how this could expand," states the researcher, "and ultimately {erode